


Saimu no Ken

by GothicLust



Category: Inuyasha - Fandom, Rurouni Kenshin
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Yakuza, Blood and Violence, Crossover, Crossover Pairings, Dark-fiction, Drama, F/M, Ghost-memories, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-10
Updated: 2017-02-07
Packaged: 2017-12-10 23:22:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 36,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/791363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GothicLust/pseuds/GothicLust
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For Kagome Higurashi, lifed changed when her family, abducted from their home for a debt they could not repay, subsequently witness the murder of their captors by Battosai, whose compassion towards her will keep her chained to him 'til death do they part.</p><p>Pairings: Kenshin/Kagome, Kenshin/Tomoe (past), Miroku/Sango</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Lonely Boy Samurai & The Wrath of Heaven

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Inuyasha or Rurouni Kenshin characters. This crazy plot however is totally my own.
> 
> Author's Note: Kenshin will be in Battōsai mind-frame for most of this fanfiction.

Blood and water poured down from the rafters of the loft floor from the broken skylight. Rain soaked the two figures standing beneath it as the boy with his long crimson hair in a warrior's tail pulled free his sword from the other man's chest. Without the support of the blade, the body crumpled under its own bulk. Wiping the blade clean on a white cloth, the young man turned to expose the cross shaped scar on his left cheek, a mark well known by the seedy underbelly yakuza and other misfits or criminals of the Tokyo area. The renowned Hitokiri Battosai had once again purged the world of another criminal, and as the boy-hitokiri left, he dropped the blood stained cloth upon the body, the kanji for "Tenchu" smeared with blood and black ink.

XxxxxxX

"Higurashi-dono?" Kagome blinked at the gapping faces of her friends. Their open mouths were rather unattractive, but their pointing fingers and star-struck eyes had her curious enough to turn around and address the low voice that called her surname.

Red hair clouded her vision for a moment before smiling lavender eyes cut through the haze. Himura-kun, a well studied, quiet young man who sat several rows over near the classroom door, stood before her, his hands shoved in the deep pockets of his slacks. She quickly looked down at her worn brown loafers so she wouldn't stare at the famous white patch on his left cheek.

"H-hai?" She breathlessly worded. Beneath her lashes she peeked up at his face. His trademark white patch was stuck to his left cheek, a cartoon sketch of a bokken drawn in permanent marker at the center smeared by a pink lip kiss stain. His maroon hair was swept back into a low tail that was tied with a leather thong. Behind him, Misao-chan, a freakishly violent girl giggled and blew a kiss to Himura-kun's back with her pink glossed lips. Misao-chan must have drawn the cartoon bokken on the stupid white patch. What ever did he wear it for anyway? Has he ever been without that stupid patch?

"This one wonders if it would be possible to borrow your math notes, Higurashi-dono." He smiled and bowed low, catching Kagome off guard at the humble request. She blinked as Misao-chan disappeared from view out the classroom door and returned her attention to Himura-kun.

"Aa, that's fine. I hope everything was okay with your family." Kagome turned momentarily to reach into her backpack for the black and white patterned composition book that held her precious math notes. "That's why you left school early yesterday, right?"

"Kagome-chan, it's rude to pry into other people's business." Ayumi, a slight girl with medium hair lightly waved from her early years living by the coast and the salty breeze, scolded her. Kagome froze realizing how such probing might affect their shy classmate. Kagome backpedaled and mumbled a quick apology between short polite bows for forgiveness.

"No harm done, Higurashi-dono." Kagome looked back up into the odd lavender eyes of her usually quiet classmate. He was smiling again and it was rather disarming. She didn't know if he really wasn't offended, or if he was and regretted his choice in asking to borrow her notes. This made her ponder yet another odd thing about Himura-kun; why did he want to borrow her notes anyway? Couldn't he easily ask the class' very own pervert, Miroku-kun, who sat just two seats behind him? Miroku-kun did have better grades than her in calculus anyway.

"Higurashi-dono? Are you feeling well?"

Kagome blinked rapidly and straightened from her prolonged bow so fast that she had to take a step back to regain her balance, however, the extra step caused her to bump into the corner of her desk and continue to topple to the side. She could hear her friends scream as she turned to extend her arms in front of her, hoping that they would take the brunt of the impact. The composition book hit the linoleum floor, but an arm caught her quickly around the waist.

Red hair fell over he shoulder in long strands, she blushed. Did Himura-kun just save her?

As the two straightened and Kagome was bombarded by questions from her friends, Himura-kun slipped from their attention and picked up the composition book from the floor. "Thank you for the notes Higurashi-dono, this one promises to hand them back first thing in the morning. Ja-ne."

Kagome watched the silent retreating figure of Himura-kun as he made his way to his desk and sat down, opened her note book and began to read.

"Kagome-chan, are you sure you're alright?" Eri, her short-haired, loud-mouthed friend asked as the other two check her arms for bruises.

"H-hai, Eri-chan, I'm fine." Kagome blushed and tore her attention from Himura-kun, wondering why the boy decided to ask her for notes when he'd never spoken to her before.

XxxxxxX

Classes ended quickly at the sound of the bell. Doors burst open and the courtyard filled with students. However, not one student made their way to the outer gates of the school grounds and out towards their home. The Students mingled a bit, then in unison, they all diverged to the gym where the sounds of large drums beckoned them. Today, their schools was facing another high school from their district in a Kendo tournament.

"I hope that they won't force Himura-kun to fight in today's matches." Eri-chan whispered to them as Kagome and her friends made their way down a row in the middle of the bleachers. "He shouldn't even be on the team really, he's so clumsy with a bokken."

"I heard that he was forced to join the group because his father wanted to make a man out of him, or something like that." Yuka-chan commented, briefly shifting her yellow headband back into place before continuing. "I think it's good for him."

Cries from the other school's practicing from the other side of the gym carried over the loud chattering of the rest of their peers. Several fighters pushed back against their opponents, their friends, so hard that they flew back off the mats landing on the cold gym floor. The four friends glanced at each other with worried faces.

"On second thought," Yuka shivered briefly. "Maybe it would be best if he just didn't show up at all."

"He always shows up." Ayumi smiled and pointed towards the bottom of their bleachers. Sure enough, red hair stood out among the many other tournament participants. "It's one of the things the school likes about him, even if he doesn't ever win a match. He sticks to it no matter what."

"I think it'd be admirable of him to stand up for himself and do something he loves." Kagome mumbled from around the straw of her drink. She continued to watch as Himura-kun sat on the bench provided for the participants and strapped on his safety gear. "I bet you he hates Kendo. He seems more into peaceful things really."

"I don't see him painting and smelling roses, Kagome." Eri laughed.

"Yea, he doesn't seem like the type to keep a diary of poems by his bedside." Yuka giggled, nearly overturning her own soda in the process. "Face it, no matter how soft the guy looks, he's a dedicated warrior. A steadfast hero of every nerd that want's to try to be a man, granted that he sucks at it, but I'll give him props for trying."

"I agree with Kagome on this one." Ayumi grabbed at Kagome's hand on her lap to stop Kagome from tearing open her skittles bag too rough. "Himura-kun should go into a club he actually enjoys being in. I heard from Kouga-kun that during practice, Himura-kun would daze out into space during katas."

"Ayumi-chan, have you been speaking to Kouga-kun privately?" Eri and Yuka leaned over Kagome to grab at Ayumi to keep her from sliding further away down the bench.

"Ano, well, you see…" Ayumi stuttered and fidgeted with her hands.

"Guys, leave Ayumi-chan alone." Kagome smiled. "It's her choice who she dates, though as a friend it's our responsibility to interrogate Kouga-kun thoroughly!"

"Kagome-chan!" Ayumi cried out meekly as her blush spread through her cheeks. "How can you be so cruel! I thought you were my friend!"

"And I though friends told friends when she started dating hot guys." Kagome giggled and nudged Ayumi's shoulder.

"Don't worry Ayumi-chan, I'm sure Kouga-kun is a great guy." Eri smiled and leaned back from her friend's personal space. "So, what else does he say about Himura-kun?"

"Well," Ayumi looked down again toward's Himura-kun and the rest of the team. Kagome followed and watched as Shishio-sama, their kendo club's captain and senior class member stopped in front of Himura-kun. "He doesn't really say much, Himura-kun is apparently very shy or very distant from his teammates. He doesn't go out to eat with them after tournaments or to birthday parties or anything. He's always polite, even when Shishio-sama yells at him for improper form. Apparently, Shishio-sama likes to yell at him a lot. I heard from Kouga-kun one time that Shishio-sama actually hit Himura-kun several times with the bokken really hard when he failed to improve."

"Really!" Kagome, Eri and Yuka all turned back to Himura-kun who was silently listening to whatever Shishio-sama was yelling at him.

"That's horrible." Kagome crushed her bag of skittles momentarily when Shishio struck Himura-kun briefly on the back of his head before moving down to the next teammate.

"Yea," Ayumi whispered as Shishio started to talk to her boyfriend. "Kouga told me that he's tried to get Himura-kun out of the club, but Himura-kun always politely refuses."

"Look the tournament is about to start!" Yuka shushed them as the two kendo clubs met in the middle of the gym floor, Himura-kun's red hair striking amongst the other flat colored heads as they bowed towards each other.

Fight after fight Kagome watched with baited breath as Himura-kun not once stood up to enter the ring. Kouga-kun's fight was long and rather bloody as blunt steel met instead of wooden swords. The match ended however in Kouga-kun's victory, and Ayumi's screams of praise for her boyfriend's win could be heard over the loud cheers from the rest of the school.

As the tournament was winding to an end, Himura-kun stood and walked out to meet his opponent in the center of the ring. A tie breaker was needed and Himura-kun's name had been drawn from the lots. His opponent was a year older than him and much bigger.

The two bowed towards one another as the school now watched with held breath as the two stood across from one another, bokken raised high. The match did not last very long. Even with the armor that Himura-kun wore, the strong hits from his opponent's bokken rang loud against his thin body. Each time he fell to the mat and stood again to continue the fight, the bokken would rain down hard towards unprotected areas.

The match was called in the other schools favor, but the point was immediately recanted when the opponent, smug with his victory, rapped Himura-kun's helmet one last time a bit too hard. Himura-kun fell and the entire school stood and watched as they red haired samurai didn't get up.

Kagome cried out, but could do nothing but watch as two of Himura-kun's teammates hauled him up and towards the bleachers where Shishio looked him over. The helmet was pulled off, and reflected off Himura's pale face was blood from a cut above his right eye.

Another match was set as Himura-kun was patched up, Kouga-kun versus another opponent. Kouga, fueled by anger that their weakest teammate was so heavily beaten and bloodied, ended the match in a violent and even bloodier fashion that somehow was allowed. Their school won, but the thought of the humble, shy, Himura-kun injured seemed to leave a bad taste in everyone's mouth that spoiled the sweetness of their victory.

"I hope he's alright." Kagome said as they made their way down from the bleachers.

"I'm going to go find out, Kouga-kun should know!" Ayumi raced off in front of them and didn't return before the last train left for home.

XxxxxxX

Gripping the pencil with tired hands, Kagome tried in vain to work out her math problems, but without her notebook, there wasn't much she could do except stare at the page and pray they'd sort themselves out. All the shortcuts she'd written down were now in the hands of Himura-kun as he copied her notes.

Ayumi had called earlier that evening, apologizing for not making the train, but assured Kagome that she made it back safely with Kouga-kun after they had taken Himura-kun to the nurse. It turned out that besides a few good knocks and bruises, Himura-kun only suffered a bump on the head and a small cut above his right eye. Nothing serious, as Ayumi reassured her. Kagome even laughed as Ayumi recalled how Himura-kun begged to leave without treatment and asked Ayumi to once again thank Kagome for her math notes. The same math notes that she so desperately needed right now to finish the dreaded homework.

"Damn it all," Kagome sighed and pushed her chair back from the desk. She leaned back and stretched, glancing over at her empty snack bowl. Deciding to fill it with another bag of popcorn, she left the room without bothering to put on a pair of shorts under her flannel button-up pajama top. Maybe another bag will also help her to forget about a bloody Himura-kun. The boy was too soft to be into such a dangerous sport.

She walked past her parents on the couch watching the news, and the cat lazing about on the dining table She glanced over the room once more, finding it odd that her brother wasn't draped across the other side of the couch begging for the evening cartoons instead of the news. She guessed that he was once again staying over a friend's house playing video games instead of doing his homework. She shook her head briefly, before entering the kitchen to get her popcorn before she too ended up doing something else besides her own homework.

As she punched the button for the microwave to heat another bag of buttered popcorn, a thick hand pressed against her nose and mouth. Kagome screamed and bucked against the large body against her back. The thick hand that smelled faintly of motor oil and stale cigarettes clamped harder against her face as the large man roughly pushed her against the hard counter, the edge of the granite top catching her middle forcing her to loose her breath.

She was dizzy and out of breath, but glad for the hand that blocked the foul stench of the man's breath as he whispered in her ear, "Try anything and we'll kill you and your family."

They stood still in the dark silence of the kitchen with the only light coming from the microwave as the popcorn bag spun and popped. Kagome nodded slowly and winced as another pair of hands, thinner with longer nails pulled her wrists together in front of her and bound them with rough weather worn rope that chafed her wrists.

The thick hand began to pull away and as soon as her jaw was unclamped from his steel grip, Kagome bit down on the man's thumb hard. The metallic taste of blood flooded her mouth and it took all her will to continue to bite down instead of spit the horrid taste off her tongue. Thin, claw like fingers pressed the sides of her jaw below her ears and pain spread behind her eyes as her mouth was forced open and something collided with the back of her head.

"Bitch!" The man whispered harshly.

Kagome spat the blood from her mouth and opened her lips to scream when the thin hand moved from her jaw to her throat and squeezed. Kagome gasped for air but received nothing more than a thick twisted rope of the dish towel hanging from the bar on the oven. The knot that was tied to secure it between her teeth pressed uncomfortably against the bruise on the back of her head.

She was pushed down onto the tile floor as screams from the living room cut through the darkness in the kitchen. Kagome tried to struggle to get up but a foot placed hard between her shoulder blades forced her back down. The man with thick hands left the kitchen towards the living room briefly stopping to un-holster his gun.

"Don't move wench, it'll be lots simpler if you do as you're told." The foot press harder and Kagome was forced to bend over, her thighs compressing her abdomen and chest making it hard to breathe.

Her mother fell into the room, her mouth and hands bound with the same weather worn rope that held her own hands together. Her cheek was red, as if someone smacked her hard across the face. Her father followed soon after, blood staining his balding crown as his beefy arms were wrapped in several twists of the rope before they were pulled tight against his back.

"Hurry up, you know the boss doesn't like to be kept waiting."

Two thin hands pulled Kagome up and tossed her near her parents. Together the three where herded into the back of a white unmarked van and driven away from their home. Kagome looked back at the house and could only think of her younger brother, happy he was safe at a friends house, and as she looked back at her parents she could see the same happiness reflected in their eyes. At least he was safe, but what these men wanted with her family, she wasn't sure.

XxxxxxX 

Kagome and her family exited the van nearly an hour later at the back of an expensive traditional Japanese styled mansion. The barrel of a gun pressed in between her shoulder blades forced her and her family to walk down several winding halls filled with armor suited men with guns and other weapons. They stopped before a delicately painted screen door with white cranes, a pond and a yellow sun. The beauty of the work went unappreciated as rough hands slammed the screen door open roughly, nearly tearing the thin rice paper from the frame.

Within the room at the far back was a fat man seated on a royal purple cushion. His thick fingers picked at his boat of assorted sushi as naked women whose bodies were painted in various hues of blues, greens and purples, danced for him in the vast openness of the tatami matted floor. The side walls were lined with more guards dressed in armor and heavy weaponry.

Kagome and her family were led down the left wall as to not disturb the dancing women. They were forced to sit in the traditional kneeling fashion and waited as the women finished their dance, bowed and left through the same door the family entered.

The fat man ignored them as he finished his large boat of sushi and several bowls of rice and miso soup. As the man wiped his hands clean on lemon scented warm silk towels, he motioned a guard behind Kagome with a flick of his wrist.

Large hands wound themselves under her arms and lifted her from the floor. Kagome screamed through the thick rope binding between her teeth, and tried to kick the guard as he seated her again beside the fat lemon scented man. Her gag was removed, and as she worked her jaw, listening to the sickening crack it made from disuse, she could hear her father cursing in the background as his gag was also removed.

"Bastard, let my family go. I've nearly got your money so," Her father stopped talking as a thick stick hit him on the back of the head.

"You have had your chance to pay me back, now, I'm going to collect whatever I can of what you owe me tonight." The man's pudgy hands grabbed under Kagome's chin and forced her to look into the grotesque face of who was presumably the boss.

"Kageomaru, please, I'll get you the money just…"

"She's very pretty isn't she?" A hand stroked her thigh, the flannel top she had stolen from her father a few years back was now too short to cover her much longer legs. The skin of his hands felt like oiled scales across the naked flesh of her inner thigh. She tried to move away, but the hand at her chin pulled harshly forward, then up as the hand moved from her thigh to her breast.

"Well done. This one's very firm and surprisingly large for her age. I would never have though such a man like you, Higurashi-san, was capable of creating such a sinful creature."

"Bastard, let her go!"

A loud crash resonated as her father fell hard on the tatami floor. Two guards proceeded to beat him with the ends of their rifles. Kagome cried for them to stop and watched helplessly as her mother could do nothing more than scream.

"You haven't paid me, and I kept lending you money, thinking you'd pay it back with your stupid gambling. Not once did you get lucky enough to win back the money you owed me. Now your wife and daughter are going to work for me. Your two whores are going to make back every penny and then all the interest for every year you never paid and for every year they slack until it's back in my pocket."

"Bastard!" Higurashi-san growled and trembled, slowly sitting back up with the help of his wife.

"You're lucky though, I'll be your first customer. This little bitch of your's seems tight enough, she should make it back very quickly." Kageomaru's hands paused their perverse trail as screams and gunshots filled the room. The screen doors in front of their rooms depicted a fierce battle of shadows that stained the thin rice paper red.

The guards on either side of the walls moved forward, protecting their master from whatever threatened them. The screaming ceased and the ruined screen doors slowly opened. The guns lowered momentarily as a boy with red hair entered the room.

XxxxxxX 

"H-Himura-kun?!" Kagome stammered; her shock so great at seeing her shy, quiet classmate walk through the open delicate silk screen doors. As she continued to look at him, at his face, she began find less of the modest and polite classmate and more of…something else.

He stood far too straight to be Himura-kun. The classmate she knew was never so ramrod straight or square-shouldered. Himura-kun was graceful, as if he walked on air most of the time and not on solid ground. Himura-kun wore his hair down, loosely gathered together near the nape of his neck, not so high up on the crown of his head. Himura-kun's eyes, light lavender and always smiling were not like this Himura-clone, his eyes were pointedly narrow, dark and glaring.

It was frightening to realize that someone you thought you knew well enough was not who you thought they were. She watched him as he clenched his hand over the hilt of the sword strapped to the belt of his school uniform pants. This was not in any way Himura-kun, this was a man without fear of death or of giving death.

Kagome could not help but cry, knowing that Himura-kun might not be here to save her or her family. He might be another member of this blood-crazied and money-laundering Yakuza. She turned her face down to look at his shoes, still on and covered in blood.

"Kageomaru, you disappoint me." A deep voice cut through the silence as if it were a searing blade. A tall man rounded the corner and entered the open silk screen doors. As he entered, many of the men that were once armed and surrounding their Yakuza head immediately dropped their weapons and lowered themselves into a kowtow. Himura-kun, however, lightly bowed his head and followed three steps after the man to the middle of the room, his left hand never leaving the scabbard of his sheathed sword, his thumb poised to free the weapon whenever necessary. "When I indoctrinated you as head of this branch, I specifically mentioned to be frugal about your money habits, but it seems you cannot follow the simple rules you were given."

Kagome shivered. Who was this man? His presence immediately placated many of the blood thirsty brutes ready to tear apart the first sign of life to enter the room. Just who was he, and why was Himura-kun with him?

"You bastard! Do you know how hard it is to get these simpletons to do their job?" Kageomaru waved a fat hand around the room. "These underbelly lowlifes understand nothing of hierarchy."

"And neither, my slippery friend, do you." The man crossed his thick arms over his large chest and with a quick movement, tossed his long straight black hair from his face and continued. "I have given you chances time and again to collect your dues before I took action, but it has recently come to my attention the true dealings of this syndicate."

"True dealings? What exactly do you mean by that?" Kageomaru gripped Kagome's rope bound wrist tighter with his large right hand causing her to let out a strangled cry.

It was brief, but the motion of Himura-kun's tightened grip on the scabbard and the twitch of his right hand towards the hilt of the sword did not go unnoticed. Kagome looked up to him briefly before another wave of pain forced her to shut her eyes again.

"Kenshin, do you know this girl?" The man turned to face Himura-kun and raised an eyebrow with a twitch.

"Hai, Hiko-sama." Himura-kun's grip did not lessen on the sword and he stared down the fat gang leader. Kageomaru's grip on her wrists all but disappeared as the steel purple death glare from Himura-kun caused him to scramble back a bit. "She is a classmate of mine. She was the one to lend me the math notes I missed."

"I see." Hiko glanced at Kagome, quickly eyeing the overly large button up flannel she was using for a nightgown and her disheveled hair and bound wrists. He smirked and Kagome's heart stilled for a moment. She couldn't breathe. It was as if this man's every gesture was important, controlling her. Why did she feel the sudden need to run away from him?

"Kageomaru, release this girl and her family. Their debt is no longer under your control." Even as the man said this, the words that would set her free of the pervert Kageomaru, Kagome could not find any joy in it. Her parents, however, nearly jumped from their kneeling position against the far wall and immediately began thanking the man for his generosity. Himura-kun, she noted, seemed shocked, and for a brief moment, she could see the light lavender return to his wide cold eyes. Did he feel that something was wrong too?

"Hiko-sama?" Himura-kun spoke softly and took a step forward before falling back into place when Hiko half-turned in his direction with a glare so cold it promised far worse than death.

"Know your place and be silent. A servant asks no questions of his Lord, and neither should an idiot apprentice to his master."

Himura-kun's jaw tightened, but did not speak again. He straightened impossibly so and bowed deeply at the waist but did not rise even after Hiko turned his back. Kagome could only watch silently as Himura-kun stayed bent over, immobile and open for attack. Hiko ignored him.

"Where did you find such a faithful servant?" Kageomaru sneered. Sometime between Hiko's demand and Himura-kun's bow he had slithered back next to Kagome, his hand now upon her bare thigh, stroking from her knee to the edge of her flannel shirt near her hip. She cringed and tried to get away, but the sharp point of something cold against her back warned her from moving at all. "If I could find even one man like him, I'm sure you'd have no need to replace my leadership."

Hiko grinned and waved his hand behind him. Himura-kun stood, his hand now on the hilt of his sword as he glared at Kageomaru. "I'm sure if you were to find someone like my apprentice you'd have no need of being under me."

"Release her." Himura-kun growled low. The gleam of the sword's blade shown through the small crack of space between his thumb and the finger guard, he pulled the sword a bit more.

"Kenshin," Hiko said. Himura-kun did not straighten as he normally would, but nodded briefly. "Kill him, I tired of his attempts to escape this compound. He is of no use."

"Boy, if you even move one inch, I'll ram this tanto straight into her spine." Kageomaru threatened, the point of the blade digging a bit into Kagome's back.

Himura-kun paused a moment, crouched lower and pulled his hip to one side so the sword still in it's sheath was nearly obscured from view. Kagome cried out in pain as the tip of Kageomaru's tanto dug through the thin flannel and into the flesh of her back close to her spine.

Some of Kageomaru's loyal servants were now standing, each holding one weapon or another pointed at Himura-kun. A few charged at him just as Kagome screamed out his name. Thunderous sounds of metal against metal rang nearly as loud as the cries of pain and the thunk of dropping bodies.

"You stupid bastard, what a waste of a good servant." Kageomaru smirked, broke into a grin, then finally the silence of the room was filled with his mirth. Kagome, wide eyed, starred at the bodies of Kageomaru's loyal servants and their blood that painted the room and people.

Kageomaru, his eyes still closed in laughter, had not yet noticed the demise of his loyal men.

"The money these people owe me is mine, and they will pay it back however I see fit. It is that bastards loss if I want his women in return for some of the accrued interest." Kageomaru straightened and calmed his breathing though his eyes were still closed, glittering with the remnants of his tears of mirth.

"Now that that foolish boy is dead, I'll…." As Kageomaru's eyes opened, his mouth slowed and words died on his tongue. His eyes scanned the room painted in blood, body parts and innards. The sweep of his unbelieving gaze stopped upon Himura-kun who stood in the middle of the room as he cleaned his sword with a white scrap of cloth from his pocket.

"Your gloating and posturing is finally at its end Kageomaru." Hiko stepped away, closer to Kagome's stunned parents and their guards.

"B-b-but, h-how!?" Kageomaru stuttered. "Those men were the best, and that boy couldn't swing a bokken, let along a real katana!"

Kagome, for all her hate for Kageomaru, could not fault his logic. Those same men that had kidnapped her and her family had also been at the Kendo tournament at her school, where Himura-kun had been beaten and injured by his opponent, she could still see the wound above his right eye. The gentle, kindly school boy Hiruma-kun was horrid at swordsmanship, but here, Himura-clone was a machine oiled by the blood of its victims. Hiruma-kun, holding a live sword lightly stained with blood and surrounded by hacked bodies was, if nothing else, unsettling. His movements with that sword were graceful when he was slow, and he was impossible to see when he attacked.

Kagome could not understand it all! She pinched herself again, praying she had strayed into a horrible nightmare. Pain registered under her numb fingers where she had pinched the soft flesh of her inner thigh.

"I (Ore) have never been good with wooden swords," Himura-kun said as he sheathed his sword. He took a step forward and Kageomaru, who jumped at the sudden movement, grabbed Kagome and pulled her back with him against the back wall using her smaller body as a shield. "But I was also under orders to become a clumsy novice."

Himura-kun's lack of humble speech was far more frightening and unsettling to her than anything he had done thus far. Maybe it was because she could not register the fact that the shy young-man that sat in the back of the class had just murdered six fully grown men without batting an eyelash, or because the classmate she knew him to be had disappeared entirely as his speech changed to the rude, manly, pronunciation. She was afraid of this Himura. It was as if he was an entirely different person. She was afraid for him just as much as she was afraid for herself. Would he save her, or was she going to die by his sword too?

"You (Kisama) do not deserve to…"

"Kenshin." Hiruma-kun looked up to Hiko as he spoke from the far side of the room next to her parents. "Remove it. Let him know the taste of the blade of a true swordsman. Allow him to feel the fear that befalls the victims of your sword."

Kagome and everyone watched as he nodded and stood fully. With his right hand, Himura-kun peeled the edge of the white patch he had become so famous for at school. Kagome leaned forward, wondering what he hid beneath the dressing. Himura tugged hard as soon as his fingers were able to grip the edge, the echo that followed was swallowed quickly by screams and utter confusion. Kagome was unable to see Himura's face until what was left of the stout guards of Kageomaru had left trailing a cloud of dust behind them.

Kageomaru screamed as he gazed upon the crossed-shaped scar. The tanto at her back dropped to the tatami floor forgotten.

Red hair. Cross-shaped scar. Awesome swordsman. Hitokiri. Battosai!

Kagome could not breathe again as she looked into the eyes of her classmate and realized that the famous assassin that should have been in his forties was none other than her humble seventeen year old high school classmate: Himura, Kenshin.

XxxxxxX

Kenshin looked sadly upon Kagome as her pale face drained completely of blood. He could not hear her soft breath as he dropped the white bandage that hid his scar from view to the floor.

"Y-y-you're hi-hi-hito-ki-ki-ri Ba-ba-t-t-t-ttosai!" Kageomaru stuttered. Kenshin watched as the fat pig's grip tightened upon Kagome's arms, the force of which caused her to gasp and return to breathing.

"Release her and your death with be swift and painless." Kenshin flicked the sword briefly of any remaining blood and waited for the lazy yakuza head to release his innocent classmate.

The oaf gripped her tighter, bruising the delicate pale flesh of her thin arm. Kenshin growled and pointed the sword directly at the man's heaving lungs. The bastard chose to die slowly then.

"Kagome, don't move." Kagome nodded briefly and clutched the seam of the door behind her just as he kicked off the ground. His sword resisted the thrust for a moment as it tore through a thick bullet proof vest, then through the soft gel of the mans bulky fat and the tough muscle between his ribs before piercing into his left lung. The man gurgled and wheezed, releasing Kagome.

As Kagome's knees hit the tatami mat floor, Kenshin twisted the blade a moment so the cutting edge faced the fat bastards heart and other lung before tearing it out of his body via slashing through the other two organs. Blood gushed from the wound, covering Kagome and himself in the viscous liquid before the torrent of warm life faded and the heavy body slumped down the wall.

Kagome didn't scream, or cry, or make any sound or movement. She just stared at him as the blood ran from her hair and down her cheeks. Kenshin could not face her, knowing he just corrupted her peaceful mind. Her wide blue eyes would haunt him, demanding him for the innocence he just ripped from her. Wishing he could give her back that peace of mind and safety she once knew, Kenshin turned from her and faced Hiko who stood over by her parents.

"Pick her up, Kenshin." Hiko commanded and he lifted himself from his leaning position from the door. "We'll discuss their debt back in my office."

"Pardon my rudeness, but would it be alright if I take their debt. This family shouldn't have to suffer any further." Kenshin glanced back over his shoulder at Kagome. She was still looking at him, wide eyed and bloodied. He could not erase the damage he had caused or the death she had seen, but he could allow her a debt free life with a family free of yakuza dealings.

"I'm glad that you agree with me." Hiko smiled and clapped Kenshin on the shoulder. "I planned to give you her family's debt the moment you unsheathed your sword for her sake."

Hiko stood back and faced the Higurashi head of house. The man, balding and large from stress and alcohol, couldn't seem to make up his mind to be happy or shocked by such an outcome.

"You should thank my idiot apprentice, he's willing to take on your debt, however," Hiko's tone grew serious rather than the lighthearted smile he portrayed the gift as. Kenshin now wondered what it would cost Kagome and her family for their debt to be erased from them.

"Hiko-sama, I don't…" Kenshin was cut off again by a sharp command from his master. Finding it unwise to argue with Hiko when money was involved, silenced himself quickly.

"As I was about to say, what would you possibly give to remove this large debt Higurashi-san?" Hiko smiled as the fat man bowed to him.

"Anything my lord. You may have anything you wish."

"Good, than you agree to marry your daughter to my idiot apprentice. We've got ourselves a deal, Higurashi-san." Hiko grinned as the Higurashi head immediately straightened himself and tried to take back his promise.

"Nearly anything my lord, but please, leave my little girl out of this. My family has nothing to do with my errors and my debts, please…" Kenshin cut off the man's mutterings with his own disapproval.

"I don't agree to this." Kenshin stepped forward towards his master, shielding Kagome unknowingly from his view. "Don't put the innocent into the affairs of the tainted. Leave Kagome and her family out of this. I can take on the debt with no payment from them. You know that I can pay it back with no effort."

"Idiot apprentice should keep their mouths shut when his master is doing him a favor."

"And what favor is this!" Kenshin yelled. "I'm enslaved to you longer by taking on this debt. Don't screw around with peoples lives. She won't have a happy life married to me!"

"You've grown soft, Kenshin." Hiko growled and faced his apprentice with a hard face. "You kill less and less, your swordsman spirit has dulled. You don't have a reason to fight anymore, to clear you debt. I need your sword. Maybe with a woman at your side, you'll strive to live and kill to keep her fed and happy."

"I won't drag her into this. I have no freedom and neither will she or any children I have. I don't want that for my family. If I can't give them freedom, then I won't have a family. I refuse to abandon my children according to your whims."

"And my whims are law to you. I raised your ungrateful ass, boy. I gave you a way to clear your debt faster and far more efficient than anything you could have done for me. And when your debt has cleared and I feel it right, you will have my job as head of this company."

"I don't want it! I swore a blood oath to you to remove my debt as fast as I could, but I will not endanger the happiness and freedom of others!"

"I make no profit off of you if your sword is dull," Hiko spoke low, threatening. "Do you get it now Kenshin? She is the whet stone that will help you to carve out that life of freedom and make me the money you owe back. You are an assassin, the Hitokiri Battosai, and a Hitokiri blade needs to be sharpened by desire and determination, both of which you lack."

Kenshin glared at Hiko, his sword still bloodied and free from its scabbard. He raised it, and with a sharp flick of his wrist, removed the collected blood and sheathed it. He realized he would not win. He never won against Hiko. The least he could do was set a few rules that would make things easier for Kagome and relieve the burden of his debt from her.

"I (Ore) will not tie down anyone, most especially my wife, to your schemes Hiko." Kenshin moved to walk out of the room. "If you are so bent on this match, then so be it, however,"

Kenshin glanced at Kagome. She was covered in Kageomaru's blood. He watched as she rubbed her chaffed wrists and tried to ignore the blood upon her clothes and bare thighs.

"I (Ore) have many conditions to which you must promise and fulfill to the letter. Am I (Ore) clear in that regard?"

Hiko raised his clenched fist. The back of his hand struck Kenshin on the right side of his jaw.

"Cheeky bastard." Hiko grinned. Kenshin spat the blood from his broken lower lip. "Alright, we'll discuss this back at the Crypt."

Hiko turned to leave, motioning for the other two guards to bring the Higurashi head and his wife. The room cleared except for the dead bodies, Kenshin and Kagome.

"I'm sorry about this, I wish I could refuse, but…" Kenshin pulled a knife from his pocket and cut the rope that bound her wrists. Kagome didn't speak a word, but nodded as he spoke while rubbing her chafed wrists. "I don't want you to be disillusioned with the hope of getting out of this marriage. I tried, but once Hiko-sama is convinced that something will help him, he'll do it."

Kenshin wiped the blood off her face with the end of his white sleeve. Blood mixed with her tears as she cried.

"Close your eyes as we enter the hall. Though I've already destroyed the innocence of your eyes, you can rest assured in the promise that I will never let you see another death so long as I live."

With gentle hands Kenshin lifted her into his arms and followed his master to the car parked outfront, smiling into Kagome's raven hair as she cried into his shirt. Not once did she look up to see the dead men crowded in the halls as the left Kageomaru's home for yet another yakuza base.

XxxxxxX

"My conditions are simple," Kenshin began as he entered Hiko's office alone. The Higurashi family was outside with Hiko's secretary as she fetched them something warm to drink.

"I will listen to your conditions as soon as you understand my terms." Hiko growled as he sat behind his desk.

"You will not complain to any assignment I give you and will carry them out quickly and efficiently."

"So long as they don't impose upon my original rules." Kenshin snapped, seating himself on the couches in front of Hiko's desk.

"Yes. No women, no children. That has not been changed. I can only push you so far before you break. Stupid idiot apprentice, stupid pacifistic ways."

"You want my sword, you follow my rules."

"You want to keep those rules you follow my commands." Hiko snapped back. "This marriage is for your benefit, Kenshin. I will expect children."

"I will not force her. Children are her choice, and even if we have children, my debt has nothing to do with them, even in the case of my death."

"If that death is of your own making then the debt is now your child's problem."

"I am not suicidal, but your concerns are understandable. You will care for her and any children we may have in the event of my death."

"Only if that death is a direct result of your duty to me. And you will do as I say, go where I say and kill who I say without complaint. Thought his point may be redundant, you, my idiot apprentice, have a tendency to change my plans. If I require you to leave the country than you will do so, even if that requires you to leave your new wife."

"Only if you give her all the protection and support she needs while I'm away. You do realize, Hiko, now that I have a wife, my general living expense will increase and will continue to do so if we have any children."

"Understandable. So, No forcing your debt onto the family, protection, money and overall security in the event of your death, is this all you want?" Hiko's eyebrow twitched. Kenshin could see the numbers crunching in his master's brain.

"No, there are two more things."

"And what would those be."

"Kagome will never work for you, I'm the only one to pay off my debts."

"And," Hiko raised his eyebrow again, annoyed.

"You give her the wedding she wants, for free."

"How romantic of you." Hiko smirked.

"It's the least I can do, after all, she marrying a killer she doesn't love." Kenshin looked down at his sword and sighed. He stood up and went to bring the family into the room now that their conversation was over.

XxxxxxX 

Kenshin leaned against the wall, watching as the family sat on the couches in his boss's office. His classmate, Kagome, was wedged between her father and mother, protectively encircled in her mother's embrace as the woman scrutinized Seijuro Hiko.

Her father was large, with thick arms crossed above his bulging stomach and a graying western-styled mustache. He glowered and sneered, his nose turned up rather high as he peered down at Kenshin and Seijuro Hiko. The burly man waited as Seijuro took his time pouring himself a glass of scotch, Kenshin sighed and turned his head when his boss poured not one, but three glasses. Kenshin straightened from the wall and took both glasses that were handed to him.

"One is for you," Hiko spoke bluntly, taking a sip from his glass. "The other is for your father-in-law."

Nodding, Kenshin handed the crystal glass to the Higurashi head without a word and returned to the wall where he leaned against it, his right leg bent so his foot lay flat against the wood paneling. Kenshin swirled the amber liquid within his glass, watching the square ice cubes bob and crash into one another.

Seijuro raised his glass and smiled. "A toast, Higurashi-san," His eyes swept the small family before him seated silently on his couches. Higurashi never raised his own glass, but stared deep into the contents of the drink as if he wanted to drown in it. Seijuro locked eyes with his pupil and ace-assassin, and broke into a sinister grin.

"To a wonderful and happy business deal. May the couple prosper, I wish you well." Hiko nodded his head and tilted his glass to Kenshin, then to Higurashi-san, before draining it.

Kenshin looked to his own glass and back to the family. He noticed how Higurashi-san placed the untouched glass of expensive scotch onto the marble coffee table and wrapped an arm around his daughter. It seemed the man finally realized what his addictive gambling has cost him.

Kagome looked up and briefly, their eyes meet. Her wide blue eyes were filled with tears and so much regret that it was hard for him to keep his mask on straight. In a cowardice move, he tore his eyes from her and continued to search for answers in his scotch, hoping that maybe the ice cubes would scream something back to him.


	2. Normal is  concept best left undefined

Chapter 2:

Normal is a concept best left unidentified.

Kagome ignored her friends as they tried to question her about the nasty bruises she had on her neck and arms.

"I'm fine guys, seriously!" Kagome sighed and fell into her seat with ten minutes to spare before first bell. "I told you, my brother and I got into an argument at home, and things just got out of hand."

Eri leaned across the back of her chair and over Kagome's desk, pulling Kagome's arm over it for a better look.

"This is a bit more than rough play, Kagome!" Eri traced a particularly deep colored bruise near Kagome's elbow which instantly made her flinch from the pain.

"Eri, stop prodding Kagome, can't you see that it hurts her." Ayumi pulled Eri's hand from her arm and gave Kagome an apologetic smile. "You don't have to tell us right away, but you should at least see the nurse."

"Ayumi's right, you should see the nurse." Yuka pushed her headband out from her eyes where it had fallen and tugged Kagome out of her chair by her wrist. Kagome cringed again in pain and hoped that the makeup she used to cover the bruises there, and on her face, wouldn't wear off anytime soon. "We'll even tell Kaede-sensei that you weren't feeling well, and I'm sure Ayumi will take excellent notes."

"Hey, take your own notes Yuka!" Ayumi scowled at her friend who sheepishly rubbed the back of her head with her free hand. "But seriously, you need to see the nurse."

"I'm fine. It's nothing I can't handle. Remember the time I fell off my bike at the top of my grandpa's shrine," Kagome shuddered at the memory, and it seemed her friends remembered as well, for they too stopped tittering and Yuka even let go of her hand.

"Yea," Eri piped up solemnly. "I remember. You were in the hospital for a week with the injuries you got from the tumble down those stairs."

"I'm surprised your grandfather still lives there with the heart attack you gave him that day." Yuka added.

"If I can survive that sort of pain, then this should be a piece of cake. Once I'm done with all these bruises, I'll get Souta back for sure!" Kagome managed a half smile, but instead of picturing her brother's face, she could only feel the fat, slimy hands of Kageomaru and his men as they touched and beat her. And as Kageomaru's face faded, Kenshin's face appeared, just as cold, hard and unfriendly as it had that night, the cross shape mark strongly cut onto his face.

"Well, since we can't convince you to go to the nurse, then maybe the newest gossip will cheer you up!" Eri's smile broke Kagome's momentary lapse into last night. Kagome resigned herself to this old habit of theirs and sat down again at her desk.

"Oh, Eri, did you read the newspaper today!" Yuka squealed as she pulled her desk chair closer to the two huddled around Kagome's desk and sat down. "Battosai killed someone else last night!"

"Really!" Ayumi gasped.

The three friends didn't notice Kagome suddenly sit straighter in her chair, or how she began to rub the concealed bruises on her wrists as they continued to speak of the town's so called 'hero'. You'd think people wouldn't overlook the fact that just because he killed corrupt and evil men, didn't mean he wasn't himself an evil person.

But that wasn't true, was it. Kenshin wasn't evil. At least, not the Kenshin she though she knew. The Kenshin from last night, he saved her from Kageomaru, right? So, could Battosai really be…good? Could Kenshin be…evil?

"Yea." Yuka rummaged through her school bag and pulled out a paper clipping from this morning's news. "It says that he killed the known loan shark and mob boss Kageomaru Tendo and his men late last night. The police couldn't even find a single hair from the guy, no blood, no nothing! In fact, the place was totally clean."

Kagome shivered and glanced over towards the empty desk of Kenshin Himura. Was he not going to come in today because of the heavy press coverage? No, that can't be it. He'd done many of these large killings and still come to school the next day, at least, from what she'd read from the papers. Could it be because of her? Was he angry at her for sticking him with her family's debt?

"So, now that we know this," Yuka's hands went back into her bag as Kagome returned to their conversation and twisted away from Kenshin's empty desk. "Who do you think the Battosai really is!"

Yuka pulled from her bag a small but a very thick notebook and flipped to nearly half way, most of it was filled with clippings from newspapers. She pulled the newest clipping of the mass murderer and added it to her notes with a quick two staples and flipped to the beginning again, where a tally sheet was badly drawn. Several columns split the notebook, one for each friend, and below it were a multitude of names and numbers. The last row's consensus: Battosai is a 40 year old business man.

"So, do we still think he's forty?" Yuka asked with her favorite glittery pink pen and matching feather's at the top poised, ready for a response. "Eri, what do you think?"

Eri took a moment to tap her finger against her chin and look thoughtfully up at the ceiling. "Well, he'd have to be younger than 40 now, since he killed so many people in one night."

"But he couldn't have done it alone." Ayumi pulled Yuka's notebook closer and flipped through the clippings. "He's been at it for years, so he's got the experience, but I seriously doubt that he could have done it without any sort of help."

They were wrong. Kagome knew it, but she wouldn't dare say anything to them, at least, nothing definitive. Kenshin had killed those men single handedly, quite literally. She didn't recall him every putting two hands on his sword except when he slashed through the heavy body of Kageomaru.

Kagome tried to blink away the repeating images of falling limbs and bloody rain as Kenshin easily hacked apart those men. Did he really mean to save her, or was she just lucky that Hiko chose that day to be extra angry with her father's loan shark?

"The bodies only had slash marks, Ayumi." Yuka stole back her notebook quickly and flipped back to the first page. "I think he's got to be at least 32." Yuka scribbled her latest guess beneath her column.

"But that would make him 25 when he started." Ayumi gave Yuka an incredulous look before turning to Eri and Kagome.

"Well he has been at it undisturbed for seven years." Eri added. "Who's to say there aren't any more killings that we don't know about before that?"

"But-" Ayumi didn't finish as Kagome cut in with a whisper.

"What if he was our age?" Kagome shifted in her seat, trying not to glance back at Kenshin's empty desk.

"When he started?" Yuka asked. "That'd be cool, but it would make him 24. Is that what you want to put down in your column, Kagome?"

"No. I mean, what if he's 17 now. Do you think it'd be possible?"

Would her friends believe her if she told them the truth? Could what happen last night really have been true? Maybe it wasn't Kenshin she saw, maybe it was someone else, someone that looked like Kenshin? Maybe….Kenshin's evil twin?

Oh, who was she trying to kid! Kenshin didn't have an evil twin! But, could a seventeen year old really manage the courage…the lack of emotion…to kill so many people?

Eri's laugh seemed to burst out through her nose. She leaned against Kagome's desktop to hide her face as she tried to breathe. Yuka suppressed giggled behind her notebook, and Ayumi just bit her lip and half-smiled as she tried not to laugh.

"I'm being-"

"Serious." Eri finished with a snort. "Seriously, Kagome! That'd make him, what, ten when he started. That's just insane!"

"This isn't a manga, Kagome." Yuka added, smoothing out her notepad and crossing out the 24 she added beneath Kagome's name. "This is the real world. If he started at ten years old, then he's either insane, or with the Yakuza, or both."

"I have to agree with them, Kagome." Ayumi agreed shyly. "It, it just doesn't seem right for a ten year old to pick up a sword."

Kagome sighed and lowered her head to close her eyes. Images of Kenshin's quick battle against the thugs of Kageomaru, and the rain of blood, still seared behind her eyelids, played out again and again. "It was just a thought. But it could be possible."

Yuka sighed and scribbled beneath Kagome's name the number seventeen. "Okay Kagome, I'll put it down, but you know, when they catch him, he's not going to be our age."

"If they ever catch him." Kagome whispered. Her friends grew silent and thought briefly of the possibility of the Battosai ever being caught.

"Well, for his sake, and ours, I hope he never is caught." Yuka broke the silence and placed way her notebook before returning to her desk. "The world could really use a hero like him, even if he is committing a sin."

"Yea, he'll be sent to death for this." Eri muttered quietly and turned to face forward just as last bell rang. "I hope they won't judge him too harshly for what he's done. I mean, he killed a lot of evil men, so he can't be all that bad."

Kagome looked up at the clock, startled. When did first bell ring?

She glanced over at Kenshin's desk, still empty, but Miroku was looking at her odd. A hand squeezed Kagome's left shoulder briefly, startling her from Miroku's gaze.

"Are you sure you're going to be alright, Kagome?" Ayumi asked.

"I'll be fine, Ayumi. Thank you." Kagome managed to say.

"If you're sure," With that, Ayumi returned to her desk behind Kagome and to her left.

As Kaede-sensei began their lesson with roll call, Kagome glanced at Kenshin's desk when his name came with no reply. When she made to turn around to focus on the lesson, Kagome caught a pair of deep lavender eyes, very similar to Kenshin's only darker, staring at her. Miroku raised an eyebrow at her and turned forward, as if nothing happened. However, Kagome's heart pounded in her chest.

Why was he looking at her? Did he know? Did he know where Kenshin was? Who he was?

Kagome couldn't quite focus in class all morning as thoughts of Kenshin, Miroku and her upcoming marriage seemed to drown out the math lesson. Math wasn't as interesting anyway.

XxxxxxX 

He was staring at her again. She didn't know why, but Miroku had taken a strange fascination to her today. Before he never bothered to look at her, but all throughout math and English, Miroku did nothing but glance over at her every few minutes.

Kagome tapped her pencil against her textbook, the lines of Shakespeare's Hamlet blurred beneath her unfocused eyes.

She tried to ignore Miroku, even went so far as to ask for an escape to the restroom to make sure that her makeup was still in place. It was.  
Kagome left the restroom and slowly made her way back to class. The halls were empty, but that was understandable. What she could not figure out, was why she didn't want them to be.

Kagome turned into another corridor, one that led away from her math class and Miroku. She made it down the stairs, past the front office and to the main doors of the school before she even realized where she was. Her hand pressed against the cool metal of the front doors, ready to push them out of her way. Where was she going? She couldn't quite remember. As she turned to move back to class, a hand appeared on her shoulder.

Flashes of thick, sweaty hands pressing her into her kitchen counter raced through her as she thought of Kageomaru and his gang. She screamed and quickly pulled the arm off, smacking and punching as another caught her around the waist as she tried to flee. Tears spilled down her face, running the makeup she spent hours perfecting in her vanity mirror instead of sleeping before school.

She screamed again and bucked against her assailant. But he was stronger and far larger than her, and as his arms tightened around her waist, trapping her hands in his own against the door, she heard someone call out to her.

"Calm down, I'm sorry!"

Kagome slowly stopped fighting against the strong body that pinned her against the school's front doors. She opened her eyes, not remembering when she closed them (though remembering things was increasingly becoming a problem for her) and stared through tear filled eyes into deep lavender.

"Are you calm now?" Miroku unwound his arm from her waist and released her arms gently when she nodded. He stepped back a bit when she immediately hugged herself, forming a barrier of arms between herself and her classmate.

"I," Kagome took a deep, shaky breath when her voice cracked and strained. She swallowed several times before speaking again. "I'm sorry if I hurt you."  
She couldn't meet his face. He was staring at her again, only this time he probably thought she was some nut job off her pills.

"Kagome," Miroku spoke so softly that Kagome couldn't avoid his searching gaze anymore. What she found in those eyes, she didn't want to see. Pity. "Did someone hurt you?"

Miroku lifted a hand to her left cheek. A bruise she had gained from the uncomfortable and rocky car ride to Kageomaru's had left her with several bruises, the worst one now under scrutiny from Miroku.

"Fine," She managed to mutter as she tried to hide her face. Miroku wouldn't let her turn her head as he gently wiped more makeup off with a swipe of his thumb.

"That's bullshit." He wiped more off her face and turned to inspect her wrist when she tried to remove his hand with her own. "And these more than prove it."

Suddenly and without warning, Kagome could not stand Miroku. The care, the pity, the protection, the tenderness he showed her, all of it. She hated it. Her rage consumed her whole, instantly and unstoppable. Miroku's tender hands wiping away makeup, wiping away her security from the world, easily revealing her flaws, her problems; she loathed it. It was as if last night's events were easily read upon her skin and she could not stand the thought of her own skin betraying her privacy.

Kagome was yelling at now, she couldn't even make out half the words she aimed towards the innocent deep lavender eyes, but to her, they were not innocent. They were dark, deadly and set above a cross-shaped scar.

She hated him. Despised him with a passion she could not name, but knew it went further than bone-deep. She hated needing to be rescued. She hated fearing him, having to even see him again scared her. He broke her, not Kageomaru. Kageomaru did not give her hope and tear it away as he showed her death. A death that could easily have been her own should he become cross with her. He did not confuse her as he did.

"What the hell do you care?"

Her mind caught up to her mouth, and she was mildly horrified to see her classmate taking slow steps away from her. Miroku didn't deserve it. Her words weren't meant for him. But he was there. He was here to hear them when she needed to say them. Kenshin was not here.

Teachers and students were now outside their class room doors. Even the principal had managed to make a rare appearance. She didn't let up, however. She didn't care who heard. She didn't care if Hiko found this a breach of contract. She wanted the world to know how much it wronged her. How much her father sold her for! How she wanted her freedom back! She wanted the choice, she wanted to choose who she married, who she could love, who she could talk to in times of chaos…in times like these.

"You haven't spoken so much as a word to me since you transferred here, and you expect me to open up. To cry in your arms and spill my deep dark secrets to you!"

Kagome was now shoving him. But if was not Miroku she was angry at, well, not entirely at least. Kenshin deserved this anger. He's the one that deserved to be hit and shoved as she grieved over her broken peace-of-mind. She cursed Kageomaru, her father, everyone, for her problems. Miroku just happened to spark her anger when he expected to become her knight in shining armor. Sorry, that position is not hiring!

"Kagome," His voice as soft, and far away, almost hurt. Had Kagome been in any other state of mind, she might have backed away. She would have stopped. But she hated him. She hated Kenshin. Hiko. Her father. Everyone.

With a final hard shove, she managed to get him on the floor.

"Fuck off, Miroku!" Kagome was crying again, shaking. She hugged herself to control herself, hoping that by holding herself this way, she could prevent the pain from spreading any further. Prevent her mind from shattering any more. Prevent Kenshin, no, Battosai, from stealing her soul.

"All of you…" Her voice was gone, cracked and dry. "Mind your own…" She could not finish as she fell to her knees and wept.

"Will I ever be normal again," She whispered to herself, unwitting that Miroku heard her.

XxxxxxX 

"Hey, when are you going to be back in town?" Miroku spoke into the phone low. Rooms in the Crypt weren't known for thick walls and respectful tenants. It was a simple hobby of all that worked there to snoop around, especially if there was any news related to Battosai and his identity. Hiko was making his job much more difficult than it was.

"I should be there by tonight, why, has something happened?"

Miroku sighed. Why did he even bother calling? He was stressing the boy out more than necessary. Kagome would get over it, he was sure of it—maybe…

"Kenshin, what exactly happened at the Tendo estate?"

There was a pause over the line, then, shots rang out from the other end.

"Kenshin!" Miroku looked around his room, double checking that the gunfire hadn't originated from his end of the conversation.

"Sorry, I should have warned you that I was working a job when you called."

"Damn it!" Miroku sighed and fixed himself on his single futon to a more comfortable position. "Warn a guy before you start shooting people. I thought we were under attack here, or worse, you finally met your match."

"That will be a day I hope I never see, Miroku." There was another brief pause in conversation while a shot was fired. "Now, what did you really call for? I know you don't miss me and the troubles I cause you."

Who said that boy wasn't smart? Miroku thought bitterly. They give him too little credit. Sure, most people here thought he was a lowly Rat, working intelligence under Aoshi, and pushing papers across offices.

"Well, it turns out that your new fiancé is having a meltdown."

"What happened?"

Though it didn't sound like it, Miroku noticed that Kenshin sounded stressed, tired, and…worried.

"She's shell-shocked. Dazed and confused. Not to mention heavily bruised and mentally unstable at the moment." Miroku took a moment for a breath, recollecting his thoughts of his encounter with and unhinged Kagome. "She resents you for something. At least, that's what I think. She didn't say all this directly."

"You asked me about what happened at the Tendo Estate, right?"

"Yes. I feel it's linked to what happened there. You said you saved her from something, but you didn't mention anything else."

"I'm surprised you don't already know. You're Aoshi's prized student after all. I would think you'd have all the information about the Tendo Estate and my connection to it and Kagome."

"Yes, well, I would if Hiko didn't have it under such tight lock and key."

"Yes. He would keep this top secret."

"What's going on Kenshin? How is Kagome connected in all of this?"

"I saved her and her family from the Tendo Estate. Kageomaru was loaning money without keeping track of how his clients would pay him back. To pay Hiko back the money, he started a side business of drug trafficking and prostitution."

"What!"

"Kageomaru was going to sell Kagome and her mother into prostitution. If I had to take a guess as to her father's fate, well, he'd probably be trafficking drugs right now. Either way, he was molesting her in front of her family and his entourage when I got there."

"You really are the people's Hero."

"No, I'm a killer with a conscience, but a killer nonetheless."

"What are you going to do about Kagome? You can't just leave her as she is. I don't think she can recover on her own."

"I don't know. I wish I could take it all back, but I can't. I can't save her from everything. It's just not possible. I can't even stop Hiko from marrying us."

"So he really is going to do that."

"You heard about that then?"

"Who hasn't?" Miroku glanced at the clock and blanched when the time struck two in the morning. "I'm a bit more informed, but people know that Battosai is going to get married."

"If they ever find out who I am, I'm doomed."

"Yes, yes, you would be."

"Miroku, do me a favor."

"Don't worry about Kagome, I'll try to take care of it."

"Thanks, Miroku. I owe you one."

"I'm not doing all of it! Just the initial step."

"I wouldn't ask you to. It's my responsibility. It's just, once I get home, I'm out again on another assignment."

"If she asks me where you are…"

"Give her my cell number. She can call any time."

"You'll make a great husband for her, you know that."

"No. I can't even protect her from myself, how does that make me a good husband." An engine started and Kenshin spoke quickly before hanging up. "Thanks for calling, Miroku. I appreciate it."

"No problem. That's what friends are for." Miroku replied, but the phone was already dead.

Miroku smiled to the white ceiling of his small room in the crypt and whispered to the painted walls, hoping it would reach his young friend: "The reason for time is so everything doesn't happen at once, Kenshin. You'll figure things out in time."

Man, Einstein really was a genius.

XxxxxxX 

"Clinging onto the dead is never wise." Hiko said as he entered the open air courtyard. Kenshin watched his master from the top of the brick wall that divided the courtyard from the hundred story fall to the concrete metropolis below. He hadn't been home long enough to enjoy the break before Hiko had given him another assignment. When Kenshin was actually staying at the Crypt instead of his actual house, he was normally out on the rooftop courtyard or down in the basement dojo.

Kenshin ignored his master and returned to staring into the cloud of smoke from his near spent cigarette.

Rich black hair and deep ebony eyes danced within the smoke's pale face. Her lips moved, and briefly, Kenshin could feel them softly pressed on his own before the sting of cold metal on an old wound burned within his chest. His fingertips lightly brushed across his chest, the raised edge of a thin scar, unnoticeable through the cotton shirt he wore were it not for the memory to remind him of its searing place. Ash dropped from the cigarette as he took a deep breath in of her memory and smoke.

"Kenshin, it's time you forget about her. This new girl should do you some good." Hiko grabbed the cigarette from Kenshin's right hand and crushed it beneath his shined dress shoes. Kenshin didn't bother to blink, he drew a fresh one from the box seated next to him and lit it with the quick strike of a match.

"Damn it Kenshin!" Hiko growled, but left the new cigarette alone. "If this shit kills you, then your debt goes to Kagome, do you understand!"

Kenshin glared at his master, turned briefly to face him and flicked the lit cigarette at Hiko's face. "And whose fault is it that I smoke now." Kenshin jumped down from the wall and began to walk inside. "She didn't have to die." He stopped at the door to face his master one last time. "I blame myself, and you, for that."

Hiko ignored the cigarette burn on his cheek to watch it roll towards its brother. He curled his fist tightly and cursed as Tomoe's memory continued to haunt them and destroy Kenshin's soul.

XxxxxxX

Hiko glanced at the reaper before him. Saito had transferred her swiftly upon his request for his best female assassin.

She seemed capable, but he couldn't be too sure. Much like Kenshin, she was small, though taller than his own apprentice; the girl was thin, and a bit young in his opinion. However, he could not judge her by age and appearance alone. His pupil was proof of the major discrepancies of image versus skill, a mistake that could cost a person their life.

"How long have you been working under Saito, Miss—"

"Yamanaka," The girl supplied. "Sango Yamanaka. I've studied and worked under Saito for nearly eight years now. "

Hiko frowned beneath his crossed fingers. Eight years was not nearly long enough to gain the skill he needed her to have.

"Unfortunately, Miss Yamanaka," Hiko's eyes zeroed in on the girl's shift of weight in her chair. "Eight years is not enough experience for the job I require of you."

"Then, if I may sir," Sango smirked and leaned forward shortly, an intimidation tactic that did not work on Hiko. "It is good that I have studied various forms of marital arts since before I could walk."

"Have you now?" Hiko did not feel all that impressed or intimidated by the information. Many have claimed to be studied in the intricate arts of violence, but never delivered upon request of true skill farther than tournament display.

"I have sir." Sango leaned back again, settling comfortably in her chair this time. "The name Yamanaka is well known in the underground world for contract kills and bodyguard work."

"If that is true, then why work for me?" Hiko knew the name well, however, only men worked in the actual family business, at least, from what he has experienced. He laid many Yamanaka to rest in the effort to execute his business deals. Most had fallen to the swords of his apprentice and head of the Reaper department, Saito Hajime.

"Contrary to popular belief, women are also trained, however the men work the field while the wives teach the young ones." Sango sneered but quickly covered it with a cough. "We'd have died out if the men only knew the clan's secrets. Average life expectancy is 36 years. You'd be lucky to live longer than that, or very skilled."

"And what exactly did—"

"Excuse me, sir. But that is none of your business." Sango cut Hiko's question sharply.

"Very well. After a demonstration of your skills, though highly recommended by Saito as rare as that is, I will give you the details of your assignment."

"And, out of curiosity," Sango rung her fingers, stretching them with a distinct pop. "What will this assignment entail?"

"Let's just say you will be guarding a very important asset of mine."

"How important?"

"Let's just say, if she is injured in any way, or worse, killed, your head is sole property of Battosai."

"B-Battosai!" Sango stuttered. It shamed her to show fear for his stupid apprentice, a guess he was sure to be correct if her tightened grip on the wood of the arm chair was any sign, but none the less, it shocked her greatly.

"Yes. You will be guarding his fiancé." A smile cracked his face at the thought of his apprentice and that girl. They would be good for one another…eventually. "Any questions?"

"N-no."

"Good." Hiko stood from his desk to remove his suit jacket. "The dojo is in the basement, second level. Ask my secretary for Battosai's personal key. Tell her I sent you." He looked her over quickly before continuing.

"You have an hour to prepare yourself. I will be there to test you then," As he stood to leave Hiko called out to her for a last reminder.

"Oh, and Sango," She turned to face him from the door, still shell-shocked from her assignment. "Don't hold back."

With that, Hiko left to his private bath to change.


	3. The price of happiness

Kenshin tugged at the blue jacket of his middle school uniform hard enough to pull the pins from the unsown seams. 

"Boy, stop struggling and stand straight," Snapped the tailor at his feet. "You're pulling all my pins out."

"But you're pressing them in so hard they stick me." Kenshin murmured.

"Learn to deal with the pain, stupid apprentice." Hiko sneered as he entered the open space of his office. He moved to sit behind his desk to watch Kenshin try to slide away again from the rough hands of the tailor. 

"Don't just stand at the door, stupid girl, come in and close the door behind you." Hiko barked to the back of the room where Kenshin turned to watch as a tall, thin woman stepped through timidly, and with tiny hands, closed the heavy door. 

She gracefully crossed the room, glancing briefly at him and the tailor at his feet before reaching his master's desk. 

"Kenshin, this is Tomoe." Hiko motioned to the young woman before his desk as she bowed politely towards him. "Tomoe, this is my stupid apprentice, Himura, Kenshin. You will make sure that he does his school work and kata's when I'm not around, along with your other duties."

"Hai." Tomoe spoke softly, demurely, but none-the-less, to Kenshin, it was heavenly. Kenshin's face flushed red as Tomoe glanced up again at him beneath her long black lashes.

"Here's what you need to get started, your desk is outside the door." Hiko dismissed her, and as she crossed the room again, their eyes met. Kenshin didn't even notice the tailor's hands as he pricked and prodded him harder than usual, his sole focus was to the young woman he was sure to spend time with, even if he had to rush his missions and lose sleep. There was a certain need, a craving he could neither name nor describe, but he was sure it had everything to do with Hiko's newest secretary, Tomoe. 

XxxxxxX 

After her outburst with Miroku in the hall, the principal pulled them into his office and called the counselor, then, with a quick word to behave, escaped to his personal putting green in the next room he thought nobody knew about.

They sat in uncomfortable silence for nearly an hour waiting for the school's counselor to arrive. Apparently she liked to take very long lunch breaks on the other side of town. Miroku twitched in his chair briefly, but she didn't pay too much attention. She couldn't face him anymore knowing she intentionally tried to harm him for doing nothing more than looking out for her.

She was exhausted after crying like that. Her head throbbed with a serious headache from her anger and didn't know what to say, or how to apologize, after blowing up in someone's face like that. Could they just laugh it off as stress from a difficult term with demanding classes?

No, that wouldn't explain her bruises. Maybe she got so frustrated with her studies she smacked herself with the book, hoping that would let the information sink in? That might make him look at her in worse light than she already cast herself. Maybe the counselor could hand her a shovel when she walks in so she could be done with it.

"I'm sorry."

Kagome shot up from her seat, startled. Miroku had turned in his hard backed wooden chair to face her.

"What?" She whispered. What was he apologizing for?

"I'm sorry for sticking my nose into your business." His eyes seemed to hold a different light than before. There was no pity there. "You clearly weren't ready to talk about it. I apologize for trying to force you."

Kagome didn't know why, but this apology seemed to drain her completely. It made her feel guilty for yelling at him to mind his own and get the hell away from her.

She smiled as she answered, even though her eyes watered again. "Thank you, Miroku."

"Just know, if you ever need an ear or shoulder, I'm available." He smiled then, and his next words made her laugh. "I've got a special rate for beautiful girls that have gone a bit mad. I hear they'd say just about anything."

"I," Kagome broke her train of thought to stare back down at her hands for courage. "I don't' know when, or if, I'll be able to speak about it." Why was this so difficult? She just wanted to reassure him, so why was speaking to him so hard?

"I'll let you know." There she said it. "I'll let you know when I'm better."

"That's all that really matters." He said, and with that, they waited in silence for another fifteen minutes for the counselor to arrive.

The door burst open and shut to reveal a woman. She was tall and slender, dressed in blue scrubs that complimented the light green sheen to her long ink black hair. Her fair skin glowed pink beneath the radiant florescent lighting that magnified the iridescent sparkle of a large, sleek cut, diamond perched above an intricate gold detailing of a beautiful wedding ring.

She rushed across the room quickly, her sneakers muffled by the thick carpeting of principal Myoga's office.

"You better be here for a good reason." She said as she took a seat in the soft, leather high backed chair Myoga favored. She leaned back and draped her feet across the man's desk without a care for the delicately scribed notes on the principal's desk calendar. "So, spill it."

Kagome felt even less comfortable speaking to this woman that she had Miroku. Her lips felt instantly chapped and sealed shut. She leaned further back into her chair and curled in on herself slightly, crossing her arms tightly in front of her chest. Miroku noticed her swift change in posture and was about to speak out when the woman spoke instead.

"Okay, you're expecting introductions." She began playing with her wedding ring, uncaring to their reactions towards her. "My name is Megumi Takani. I got my PhD for Psychiatry at Tokyo University. I'm married with one kid, and I'm here to listen to anything you deem pertinent to burden me with."

"I'm…" Miroku began, and again was cut off.

"Yes, I've heard ot you. You're very popular with the ladies." Miroku smiled. "And Principal Myoga too. It may help if you stop causing problems for everyone."  
Miroku lowered his head and didn't try to speak for several minutes.

"And you are Ms. Kagome Higurashi." Kagome curled farther into her chair away from the woman's calculating stare. Megumi had stopped playing with her wedding band sometime between her introduction and Miroku trying to speak again. She settled to watch Kagome and her reactions as she continued her   
assessment.

"Something traumatic happened to you," Kagome tried to sink further into the hard wood of her chair, but only succeeded in staring deeper into her white knuckles that had a tight grip on her left arm. "Am I correct?"

Kagome couldn't answer without bursting into dry heaves, tears having left her long ago. Her face seemed to drain of color quickly as her vision swam with every thrum of her head.

A plastic cup with water appeared within her blurry vision. Without looking for who gave her the cup, she latched onto it, and drained it. It refilled twice more before she even thought to glance around. Miroku held another cup, ready for her to take it should she even slightly reach out for it.

"Thank you," She mumbled. He took her empty cup and replaced it gently with the full cup and retreated back to his seat without another word when she finished the old one.

This time she took delicate sips, the ice freezing the tips of her teeth. Her headache was starting to clear and her lips didn't feel so dry. However, the blue eyes of their counselor never once left her.

"Feel better?" She asked. Her voice was soft, not as harsh as it had been before when she entered the room without a care. There was no pity in her eyes either, even as Miroku launched into the details about what happened in the hall. What was once concern turned strangely into, understanding?

"Yes, thank you." She finally remembered to answer as Miroku took a breath.

Megumi raised a hand as Miroku went to continue speaking. "I see there are problems, Kagome. Some, you may not know how to answer, but please, if you cannot speak with me, then please, speak with somebody." She stood from the desk and stopped before Kagome's chair. "My door will always be open to you." She shuffled around in her pockets for something, pulling out a pager, a cell phone, and a small can of mace.

She finally settled on a folded business card, read it over quickly before stealing a pen from the principal's desk to scribble something on the back.

"You can call me at any time, day or night, when you feel like telling someone." She handed Kagome the card with a number written neatly on the back. "That's my home number. Don't hesitate to call."

With muttered goodbyes, she left them just as the bell rang to dismiss the school.

Kagome quickly followed in the woman's wake, leaving behind a confused Miroku as she ran to catch the bus before it left her with a very long walk to the train station. She had missed the bus and the early train home. When she finally made the last boarding for the three thirty train, she was already late to arrive home.

She finally arrived home near four in the afternoon to find the door unlocked and open. Within her family was scrambling. Several suitcases blocked the entrance hall and the living room.

"Ka-san?" Kagome called from the doorway as she dodged Buyou as he ran underfoot. "Chichiue?"

Kagome made her way from the door to the living room with great difficulty. Within she found her brother trying to unplug his Nintendo™ system from the wall unit.

"Souta," Her brother jumped and smacked his head ontop of the upper shelves. He crawled out, rubbing the top of his head whilst glaring at her.

"What was that for?"

"What's going on?" Kagome asked, ignoring the glares her little brother sent her way. "Where's Ka-san and Chichiue?"

"They're upstairs. Ma's packing your things." Souta said as he tried to violently separate the gaming system from the wall again. "We're making a break for it."

The Nintendo™ broke free with a loud pop. Souta fell over with the rebound force into a pile of clothes.

"What do you mean?" Kagome didn't understand. Were they really going to leave? Could she really leave, consciously knowing that Kenshin was paying for their debts without gaining anything in return?

"I'm not giving you over to him." Before her eyes, her little brother grew up, gaining a hard edge to his eyes. "He doesn't deserve you. You shouldn't have to pay for anything that we do."

"We?" Kagome blinked.

"Dad and I." He replied, lifting the system into his suitcase that lay on one of the gray couches. "Women shouldn't' have to pay for the stupid mistakes we men make."

Kagome smiled. Her little brother was really growing up, even if he didn't know exactly what was going on, or exactly what he was saying. He would become a great man one day.

"Oh, Kagome, there you are!" Coming down the stairs was her mother. In one hand she carried a light purple suitcase, and in the other she held Kagome's old laptop, the fan still whirring and screeching.

"Ka-san?" Her mother shoved her laptop into her hands once she navigated the maze of suitcases and garbage bags of stuff lying on the floor of their once pristine living room. Kagome placed it down on large suitcase beside her.

"I packed some of your clothes, your favorite book and your journal from beneath your bed."

"You've read my—"

"Dear, I haven't read it, but placing it under the mattress is not exactly the most original hiding spot." Her mother smiled and handed Kagome a black trash bag. "Now go upstairs and grab whatever it is you want to keep."

"We're not coming back, are we?" Kagome said as she mounted the first steps.

Her mother looked down to the dingy carpet and wrung her fingers tightly.

"We're doing this for you dear." Her mother looked up and gave a watery smile. "We don't want to lose you."

"What about my friends?" The sudden change was difficult to grasp. Kagome didn't want to leave, yet at the same time, she wanted to hop in the car and drive faster than any visitor on the autobahn to get away from Kenshin and Hiko.

"You can always make new ones, dear." Her mother began to busy herself with shuffling through the clothes pile on the floor. "I'm sure you'll find them again."

Kagome made a brief glance to Souta. He was looking into the half-full contents of his own suitcase. She caught a glimpse of a photograph in his hands before he stuffed it deep into his jeans pocket.

Unable to linger any longer on the stairs, she began to climb them lethargically. Every step she took added another five pounds of lead to her shoes. She could see her father frantically running around his room as she passed the door. He was pulling things from drawers and closets and tossing them into a garbage bag that sat on his stripped bed. As she turned to leave, she saw him grab something metallic from a bedside drawer and place it into the waistband of his jeans.

Pushing the door to her room open fully, she walked inside to a room that was once full of pictures, posters and stuffed animals. Her pictures were piled up on her small desk. The posters were stuffed into a trash can beside her bed where her stuffed animals had been tossed onto.

Opening the bag, Kagome started to look through her closet and drawers, finding nothing she really wanted to keep, Kagome moved to her rather small collection of books and movies. She pulled a few from the shelves and placed them delicately into the bag with her pictures she tucked away into a folder. Some shoes made it into the bag as well as a few stuffed animals her friends gave her.

As she was about to toss in a floppy eared bunny her friends had given her when she was in the hospital after her accident at her grandfather's shrine, when she looked into the glossy black surface of the little rabbit's eye. Reflected on the surface was her pale face, red and blotchy from crying. The stuffed animal didn't comment on her broken appearance. The makeup on her cheek was nearly gone from where Miroku wiped it off exposing a dark bruise.

She suddenly felt heavy and tired. Her eyelids closed softly and with the bunny still in her arms, curled around it and lay back on her bed in deep, dreamless, sleep.

XxxxxxX 

Kagome woke up a few hours later in the back seat of her father's large beat up van, the soft long eared bunny still clutched to her chest. She lifted her head lightly from the pillow cradled between her head and the windowpane to glance around the dark car. In the diver's seat, her father stared out onto the glittering highway, the passing lights of cars streaking colors on the droplets that stayed from an earlier shower. Beside him, her mother reclined in her chair fiddling with the radio stations, going from classic rock to jazz faster than her friends Ipod.

Souta shifted beside her. He was sprawled out on the back seat, taking up his spot and the middle seat with his long legs that seemed to never stop growing. His head was cushioned by a pillow she remembered that used to sit on his bed. The lumpy shape of a creature from one of his favorite shows was now dulled and muted from the many washes it went through to get clean after he spilled soda and chip dip on it.

"Oh, Kagome dear, you're awake." Kagome refocused her attention towards her mother. "How are you feeling?"

Kagome just blinked as an Elton John song played quietly in the background.

"I guess you're still tired. Don't worry, we'll be stopping soon."

"Where are we?" Kagome asked through a yawn as she glanced out the window again for road signs or landmarks.

"Close to Kyoto. It's nearly midnight." Her mother leaned back over the seat to rearrange a fleece blanket over Kagome.

"Kyoto? How long was I asleep?" Kagome looked out the window again but didn't see anything in the darkness.

"Nearly eight hours. You've been clutching that bear all night." Kagome glanced down at the white stuffed rabbit. In the dim light it almost appeared grey and lifeless.

"Get some sleep Kagome. We'll be traveling again tomorrow morning." Kagome only nodded, rearranged her pillow and lay her head back down, unable to sleep.

She heard her parents discuss the route to take to Oda City in Shimane Prefecture, where they were to meet an old friend and catch a ride into South Korea. Even as they discussed the plans, Kagome couldn't help but think that it wasn't going to work. She wanted to run, so desperately. She wanted to be free of the debt and the burden it made her bare. She wanted to never see Hiko, or Kenshin, ever again. But was running the best option, or even the right one?  
Could they really make the long drive to Oda City? It was still another six hours or so from where they were. Would Hiko really not notice their departure long enough to get out of Japan? Would getting out of Japan even be enough?

Kagome didn't want to run her entire life, having to look over her shoulder in fear that Kenshin would be following her. No. She wanted a peaceful life with a caring husband, a wonderful career and adorable children. Could she get that with Kenshin, a known murder?

Her father pulled off the highway and into the outlying city of Kyoto. Houses, motels, cheap restaurants and gas stations passed them as they drove another few miles into the city. Souta was just waking up when they pulled into an old motel. Grateful for the stop, Kagome hopped out and stretched her legs, Souta right behind her.

"Where are we?" He asked, pulling his hands over his head. His back popped loudly.

"Kyoto." Kagome answered as she twirled around, looking for anything out of the ordinary. A hand on her shoulder stopped her from making her third turn.

"Stop that." Souta said. He was less than a head short of her, but his hands were already much larger than her own. "You're acting weird. People might call the cops."

Kagome blushed. "Oh. Right."

"Alright." Her father rounded the car, a set of keys in hand. "We're in 346. Don't bring anything other than a change of clothes, we're not staying long."

Kagome and Souta, after much difficulty, managed to get out a set of clothes each from the overstuffed trunk and back seat.

"Man, I'm glad this car seats eight or we would have been squished, Kagome." Souta said, yanking a pair of jeans from the tight confines of his suitcase that was sandwiched between her own and a heavy black bag.

"Yea, help me move your suitcase so I can reach mine." Kagome shoved the black bag on top of her brothers stuff, but only managed to shift it about a millimeter.

"Why can't you just use a pair of mom's jeans?" Souta wined, while he fingered a rip in one of his T-shirts. Kagome glanced down briefly to his bag, noticing a strip of red cloth that clung to the teeth of the zipper.

"Mom's taller than I am." Kagome said, trying to move Souta's bag again. "And besides, I have larger hips."

"You mean you're fat." Souta grinned, then dodged a black garbage bag that flew towards his head.

"I am not fat!" Kagome meant to pick up another thing to throw at him when their father stopped them.

"Hey, knock it off you two!" Kagome and Souta cringed as their father's booming voice called to them from the front seat, the bag clutched in his hands.

"Sorry." They both murmured and resumed trying to rescue Kagome's suitcase from the trunk.

After a few minutes, they managed to get enough space for her to squeeze out a pair of purple plaid shorts and a white tank top.

"It's a good thing classic converse go with anything." Kagome said as she zipped up her suitcase and climbed out the car.

"I still don't get you. Do you have to try and wear every color in the rainbow?" Souta pointed towards her plaid shorts.

"What's wrong with them? They're only purple and blue." Kagome asked, looking towards her shorts as they made their way to their room.

"And white." Souta added.

"White isn't a color, idiot." Kagome looked at the shorts again. They were cute. Why didn't guys understand that?

"Whatever. I still think it looks like a barfed up rainbow." Souta said, then walked faster up the stairs.

"Boys, I swear." Kagome watched her brother take the steps two at a time, reaching the third landing faster than her.

"I call the bed by the bathroom!" Souta then took off, laughing down the hall.

"Don't even think about it!" Kagome ran after him. "You're sleeping on the floor!"

XxxxxxX

Kenshin glanced briefly away from the scope of his long barreled rifle to his right. Beside him, Sanosuke lay with a pair of binoculars in his hands and a cell phone attached to his ear.

"No, I swear, I'm not- No.- Seriously, I'm with Kenshin-You know, Kenshin, the friend I told you about that- No.- Damn it, I'm not cheating on you!"

Kenshin sighed and flipped the safety of his rifle back on. He looked at his watch. Five minutes left. "Sanosuke."

"Look, I got to go.- No.-No.-I don't even know who Keiko is!-Fine.-Don't expect me to call back."

Sanosuke flipped his phone closed roughly. "Sorry about that Kenshin. She can be such a bitch."

Kenshin only nodded before turning back to the scope of his rifle. Within the cross hairs an old man paced back and forth. He was discussing a business plan with his company partner, a plan the old guy didn't even know was only a ruse to place him in such a convenient location.

"Why are you even sniping anyway?" Sanosuke looked down at his watch then back into his binoculars. "I thought you were beyond that now."

"I am." Kenshin replied softly as the night breeze pulled his hair into his eyes. From his pocket he fished out a hair tie, pulled the wayward strands back and tied them into a loose plait. "Hiko just want's me out of his hair as he finalizes the deal between the Higurashi's and myself."

"So its really going to happen? You're getting hitched?"

"Seems so." Kenshin flipped the safety off, waiting for the last possible moment before pulling the trigger. The bullet sliced through the air, shattered the fragile glass and tore straight through the brain tissue of a now dead business man. Kenshin watched as the partner glanced back in his direction. Deep red eyes set in a pale face framed by long black curled hair greeted him. The man gave a sharp nod then proceeded out the room where several other employees happened to meet him.

Kenshin fired off several more shots, purposefully missing the corrupt associate now owner as intended. Though he managed to get the red-eyed male in the arm, a superficial wound, but one that would solidify his alibi. What better way to avoid detection than to pose as a victim of an assassination attempt?

"Let's get going Kenshin. I can see the cops down the street."

Kenshin and Sanosuke packed their gear quickly, and hurried down the steps of the library. They made it onto the seventh floor and down an aisle dedicated to art history before the cops came hurdling down the corridor and up the open steps to the roof top. One cop stopped in the opening of their aisle briefly.  
"You boy's didn't see anyone run down those steps have you?"

"No, officer." Sanosuke said as he placed a book back on the shelf. "Why, has something happened?"

"Nothing you need to concern yourselves with. You two just be careful." With a tip of his hat and a smile, the cop exited to follow his fellow officers to the crime scene.

"Good to know Hiko's got people in every department." Kenshin mumbled as he flipped through a French book on Renaissance artists.

"Yea," Sanosuke replied while touching the spines of different books. "Let's get out of here." He turned around, then with a grin, he added. "Akabeko?"

Kenshin smiled lightly, replaced his book and nodded. "I've got two hours before my next assignment. My treat."

"Good." Sanosuke's grin widened. "You can tell me all about this new wife of yours."

Kenshin rolled his eyes, but none the less, followed his friend out of the Library, handing the rifle bag to a man on the way out to be disposed of.

XxxxxxX

A sharp, deep knock on the door of their motel room woke Kagome. She shifted lightly on the springy mattress, her brother's soft snores from the floor between the beds stopped as he lifted his head.

Her father moved on the bed as softly as possible, reaching into the dresser drawer next to him and pulled out something heavy. Souta shifted aside as their father stepped out of bed and stopped before the door.

"Who is it?" He asked, checking the peep hole. "Don't you know what time it is?"

"Open up Mr. Higurashi. I'd rather not break down the door." A calm, deep voice floated through the door.

Kagome gasped, drawing the cover's up over her chest. Souta sprang up, jumping in front of her, just as the door was kicked in.

Her father moved back to avoid flying pieces of wood. Her mother screamed, ran towards Kagome, wrapping her in her arms.

A tall man stepped through the debris. His dark hair cropped short and green eyes sharp against the night. The lights flicked on, reflecting ominously from the silver barrel of a gun pointed towards the new man from her father's hand.

"Get the fuck out of here before I shoot you." He growled.

The man seemed unfazed by the weapon. He scanned the room quickly before his gaze landed on her. Kagome shrunk back from him just as Souta stood taller, trying hard to block the man's sight from her and his mother.

"You can't have her." Souta shouted shakily. His hands fisted at his sides as he tried to strike an intimidating pose.

The man just smirked. "You have a good presence." His smile disappeared now. "Move aside boy."

"Don't move." Her father shouted again. His finger nearly squeezed the trigger.

The stranger faced her father now, and with a quick movement, he was in front of him, the gun securely in his own hands and disassembled.

"Using a gun in such close proximity, especially with women and children as potential targets, is highly unwise." He said, shoving out the copper-colored bullets from the magazine one by one. They fell to the carpeted floor with a soft thunk.

"Now, if you'd be so kind." He pulled his own weapon from the holster on his hip, showing it to all in the room. "There is a car waiting out front. Don't worry about your stuff, someone will drive it back home for you." Then he holstered his weapon again.

"Please, sir." Kagome spoke so low that it was almost hard to hear, however the man turned to her. "Don't hurt them, they're just trying…"

"No harm will come to your family Miss Higurashi." He said, nodding lightly towards her. "The Battosai wouldn't take kindly to it."

He stepped over to the bed slowly and stretched out his hand for her to take. "If you please."

"Kagome?" Souta asked softly. He didn't know what to do, none of them did. Kagome only knew that she had to go with him. It was the best choice for all of them. He had already kicked down their door, so what else was he capable of…

Her family watched on as Kagome slowly stretched her own hand to meet his. "You promise."

"I promise." His hand closed around hers and guided her off the bed and out the door, her family following behind her.

In the parking lot, a sleek black limo was sitting idle, the driver, dressing in a crisp black and white suit, leaned against the passenger side door waiting for them.

"Kagome, which luggage is yours?" The tall man asked just as the driver opened the door.

"First, I'd like to know the name of my kidnapper." She didn't know where she gained the courage, maybe it was because she was secure in the knowledge that they wouldn't do anything to her.

The man smiled weakly. "Shinomori, Aoshi." He gave a gentle bow that she returned in kind. "Your luggage?"

"The light purple one in the back seat. And the garbage bag just on top of it." She was about to enter the limo when she gasped. "Wait!" She said, and ran into the car. Sitting in the middle row was the white, long-eared rabbit her friends had given her. With out a thought she grabbed it from the seats, clutching it tightly to her chest.

"I'm ready now." She murmured.

Aoshi nodded, but said nothing with respect to the doll. She stepped into the limo, taking a seat next to her brother who was blinking rapidly to stay awake. Behind her, Aoshi stepped in, and once her luggage was stowed away in the trunk of the limo, they left the motel to wherever it was Aoshi was taking them.

XxxxxxX

They drove for nearly an hour until they entered a private airport. Aoshi quickly took them passed security and loaded them into a private jet. They landed in Tokyo airport shortly there after and were seated in another limo just as quickly.

"Where are we going?" Souta finally gained the courage to speak after nearly three hours of silence.

"The Crypt." Was Aoshi's quip reply.

"We're going to a graveyard!" The driver's laughter filled the silence of the limo but cut quickly with a sharp glare from Aoshi. The divider from the driver's cabin and the passenger seating went up before Aoshi answered.

"The Crypt is not a graveyard." Souta settled at that. "It's the name of the building where Hiko-sama and the Battosai run the organization. Wherever those two are, the name of the residence is always Crypt."

"Cool." Souta breathed out, but was immediately hit over the head by his father. "Sorry. Not cool."

Kagome just smiled at her brother's antics. Trust him to always find something interesting in odd situations. Even if they were, technically speaking, kidnapped by Yakuza.

Apparently he also amused Aoshi, because he too smiled at Souta. "How old are you, boy?" He asked.

"It's not boy," Souta snapped, seemingly comfortable in Aoishi's presence since he hadn't killed them yet. "My name's Souta."

"Aa." Aoshi blinked, still waiting for his answer. Not receiving any, he finally addressed Souta by his name. "Souta, how old are you?"

"Twelve years, ten months and two days." Kagome outright laughed at this. Souta raised his eyebrows and blinked. "What?"

"It's a good age to be at, Hiko won't be interested in you." Aoshi seemed to settle better in his chair. From where Kagome sat, it almost seemed as if he cared for what her family was going through.

"What do you mean?" Mrs. Higurashi asked. Her husband just huffed and resumed staring out the window, though he was listening intently to their words.

"Simply put, Hiko will not involve your family any longer into the affairs of the organization." Aoshi crossed his arms and faced Kagome. Within his eyes, Kagome could read the sorrow and pain he held within. How long had he been apart of Hiko's group? How long did he still have to go?

"You mean," but Mrs. Higurashi was cut off by Aoshi. The hope she had gained from those few words died instantly as he spoke.

"I did not mean to imply that your daughter was also free. I only meant that from now on she is part of the organizations family. She will most likely have little to no contact with you once she takes her vows." He clarified.

Kagome frowned, the long-eared bunny sat limply on her lap. She flicked the ears a bit, thinking about her friends. She had nearly lost them trying to run with her family. She was ready to give them up for her family, she was not ready to leave her parents and her younger brother just because Hiko said so. The rabbit looked at her, the black eyes shined in agreement.

"I am not leaving my family." Kagome hissed through her teeth. She hugged the rabbit for strength, feeling her friends support through it. "I'd rather continue to out run you and the organization than live without them."

Aoshi's frowned. "Miss Higurashi, tell me, did you know I was coming?"

Kagome's eyes searched the room. Blank faces met her own. "N-no."

"Did you think you got away?" He continued.

"A-almost." Her eyes were slowly widening with every question she answered. Ever moment he revealed to her something she did not realize. How far was Hiko's reach? Even if they made it out of the country, would she have been safe?

"Do you know how I found you?" Kagome was nearly in tears now. She tried to call to her friends through the stuffed animal, she wanted their help, but there was no answer. Kagome couldn't answer him.

"Even if you had succeeded in leaving the country, Shanghai is our next largest base, and South Korea is not as easy to hide in as you think." Aoshi paused to allow Kagome the time to gather herself.

"How far," Kagome couldn't finish the question, but Aoshi knew what she meant to ask.

"Global." It was a simple, one-word answer, but the implications that Hiko could find her anywhere she chose to hide was difficult to completely understand. "Even if you hid in the United States, we have several holdings there that could find you."

"Do not think you are ever alone." He said. Kagome looked up, and without thinking it, Miroku came to mind. "We have had eyes on you since you left the Crypt the night before."

"And, Kenshin?" Kagome asked, though she nearly regretted doing so, however her curiosity got the best of her. Why wasn't he at school yesterday?

"On assignment." Aoshi crossed the limo and taped on the glass dividing the driver from them.

"Yes, Aoshi-sama?" The driver asked as the window rolled down.

"Call the Battosai, let him know the Higurashi family is well and at the Crypt."

"Sir?" The driver stuttered.

Aoshi sighed. "Hand me the phone."

The driver handed it to him quickly. "Will that be all, sir?" He asked timidly. Kagome didn't know whether the man was afraid of Kenshin, or Aoshi.

"Yes." Aoshi dialed a quick series of numbers while he crossed again to his seat. He placed the phone to his ear. Kagome, seated next to him on this limo ride, was able to hear when Kenshin picked up on the other line. She played with the rabbit's ears while she tried to discretely listen in on their conversation.

"What do you need Aoshi?" Kenshin sounded very tired on the other end, even though everything was too low for her to completely make out.

"I just found the Higurashi family." Aoshi didn't elaborate. He didn't tell Kenshin that her father tried to shoot him, or that he found them in Kyoto…nothing.

"What?" Kenshin was more awake now.

"They were trying to flee the country. No worries, they are safe and unharmed." Still, Aoshi did not elaborate. Was he trying to spare Kenshin's feelings? How close were the two?

"Miroku just called me, why didn't he know this?" Miroku? Black hair and light lavender eyes looked at her questioningly from within her memories of him. Was he in with Hiko too?

"Need to know, and he wasn't on the list." He was! Kagome couldn't breathe, even as she tried to listen to the rest of their conversation. How could she even think to trust him now.

"Why wasn't I notified!" Kenshin was slowly getting angry. His anger, seemed to snap some life into Kagome as she began to breathe again.

"Hiko-sama did not want to worry you whilst on an assignment. You've been getting sloppy."

"Everyone's a critic." Aoshi didn't reply. "Is Kagome with you?"

"Yes." Oh no. Did he want to speak with her!

"Could you put her on please?" Damn it! What was she going to say? Sorry wasn't going to cut it.

Aoshi pulled the phone from his ear and handed it to Kagome, much to the surprised looks from her family. "He want's to speak to you."

"Oh yea!" Souta shouted. "Tell him he's sleeping on the couch! He's not going to touch my sister!"

Kenshin's laugh from the other end of the line cut through the awkward silence.

Kagome took the phone, and with a deep, stabilizing breath, placed the phone to her ear.

"You can tell your brother that you have your own room in my home." He said, even if she didn't greet him.

Kagome sighed in relief and released the death grip she had on the stuffed animal. Though Kenshin has assured her of her own private area, she didn't say it out loud. Her brother probably wouldn't believe her anyway.

She tried to speak to him, but nothing came out. She wanted to explain. She needed him to know that she wasn't trying to hurt him by running away, that it wasn't her idea, that she wanted her family safe.

"I'm sorry…" She broke off. Kenshin made a funny noise from the back of his throat on the other end.

"No. You have nothing to be sorry about. Or your family." His words did not comfort her. "I understand and I would rather you have gotten away. I'm sorry that I couldn't help you."

Kagome didn't know what to say, so she just repeated herself. "I'm still sorry." She said. "I…" He cut her off again.

"You still haven't told your brother, have you."

Kagome, grateful for the change of subject, answered quickly. "No."

"If you don't mind passing the phone, I'd like to speak with him." Was that all he wanted to say to her, that he was sorry she didn't get away, that he couldn't help her? And more importantly, did she want to hand over the phone to her kid brother?

"Souta, he want's to speak to you." She said, placing a hand over the bottom of the phone.

"What are we doing, playing 'hot phone'?" He asked. "There better not be music on the other end, 'cuz I swear…"

Aoshi gave a deep chuckle and spoke for Kagome. "The Battosai is a man of many words." He grabbed the phone from Kagome and quickly spoke into it. "Battosai, we are almost there, so whatever you wish to say, speak swiftly." Then, he placed the phone before Souta.

Souta hesitate to pick it up. His hand hovered over it until finally, after a jerk from a speed bump, he grabbed it, and lifted it to his ear. Outside the windows of the limo, a tall, glass lined tower glittered in the darkness, strong and imposing.

Kagome couldn't hear what Kenshin was saying. Souta did not speak a word as he listened. Kagome shuffled in her seat, waiting for something to happen. She had expected her brother to lash out at Kenshin. She expected him to chew his ear off over the phone, but the silence she got was not something she wanted, especially when she couldn't hear Kenshin's voice.

They passed the security gate quickly once they were checked thoroughly. Souta hung up the phone with a drawled out 'Thank you' just as the limo stopped on the curb of beautiful glass doors.

The Higurashi family and Aoshi stepped out. Standing in front of the doors to his imposing empire, Seijuro Hiko greeted them.

"Welcome back to Tokyo, Miss Kagome." His grinned.

Kagome thought he really should have said, "Welcome back to hell."


	4. A beautiful, but dusty, prison.

Chapter Four:

A Beautiful, but Dusty, Prison

"Welcome back to Tokyo, Miss Kagome." He grinned.

Kagome thought he really should have said, "Welcome back to hell."

Before Kagome could fully step out of the limo, she was forced back inside by Hiko's arm as he blocked her exit. From inside the limo, she could see the driver step out of his seat and allowed another to replace him.

"Where the hell do you think you're going with my daughter?" Her father shouted from the sidewalk. He was held back by Aoshi who was simply pointing his gun at him, and his wife who hid behind his large bulk.

"You tried to run from our agreement. I can't trust you with my investment." Hiko's words were crass, insensitive to the families feelings or Kagome's, whom he trapped within the limo. He immediately sat himself within the car and through the corner of his eyes, watched as Kagome scrambled to the other end of the seats farthest from him. "She will be in good hands." He added, though he didn't mean for the words to be soothing.

Hiko shut the car door and the driver took off, ignoring the little boy as he tried to chase the limo, and directed the driver to head around the tall glittering building and out through the back gate. Once they hit the main roads, Kagome heard a low click and the windows, which had previously been lightly tinted, switched to a deep black that was impossible to see through, either in or out.

Kagome panicked.

She began to breathe fast and shallow, hardly stopping to relax. The slender room of the limo began to spin before her eyes dizzyingly. The car was moving far too fast into nowhere for Kagome to gain any semblance of steadiness.

Suddenly, Hiko was beside her, a brown paper bag in his hands which he held over her mouth and nose.

"Breathe." He spoke calmly. She did.

Slowly, things reeled back into focus. The seats stopped revolving and the car was crawling at a normal pace. As she continued to breathe, her head, now heavy instead of dizzy, throbbed with a vengeful headache.

"I should have warned you about the windows." Hiko stated after sometime, however, there was no remorse in his voice. "Kenshin's home is top secret, I'm afraid even you will not be allowed to know it's location until after the marriage."

"Kenshin," Kagome whispered hoarsely.

"Yes," Hiko moved away from her when she stared shifting uncomfortably, though he didn't move far. "You will be staying there until your marriage this coming weekend."

Kagome's death grip on her stuffed rabbit tightened as he revealed the date for her marriage was so close. Hiko either didn't notice, or did not care that she sought comfort in a stuffed toy.

"S-so s-soon." She stuttered miserably. She did not look up to meet Hiko's gaze. She continued to look into the eyes of her frost white rabbit.

"We cannot afford to waste more time." Hiko seethed, his anger from tonight's stunt apparent to her. "Tonight made that impeccably clear."

Hiko shifted slightly towards her as he reached deep into his pocket. Kagome cringed away even as he pulled out a cell phone.

Kagome noted, as Hiko waited for whomever he was calling to pick up the phone, an interesting mark that sat upon his cheek. Had that been there before?

"My apprentice," Hiko answered her as he snapped shut the cell phone. Whomever it was he called had not answered. "thought it was funny to throw a lit cigarette at me just a few hours ago."

Kagome nodded mutely. It didn't seem within Kenshin's character to smoke cigarettes, let alone throw them at people. But then again, in light of last night, how well did she really know him?

"The idiot left this on my desk the other night. I assume it's yours? My idiot apprentice doesn't have such neat handwriting."

Hiko handed to her, her bound composition book. She flipped through the first few pages, blindly at first.

This was it, proof that last night really happened. Kenshin really was the Hitokiri Battousai. Hiko really did buy out their debt, and Kagome was really going to marry him, the Battousai.  
She lightly brushed a hand across the first pages of her notes. She slipped her slim fingers beneath the next page and pulled, hard.

The weak pages ripped free. Page after page littered the floor of Hiko's once clean limo. It made her feel better, even if ripping the book apart did absolutely nothing to solve her problems. It was easy to let her frustrations out on it. It was this book that must have given Hiko the idea that Kenshin needed help. That Kenshin needed a wife to care for him. Kenshin may have said he borrowed this notebook from a classmate, a female classmate. He may have even mentioned her name in passing. It was this very notebook and his stupid request to borrow it that got Kenshin to notice her. The notebook had to go.

Math notes from the other day added themselves to the floor, and as she continued ripping pages, blue ink streaked across the black and white pages disrupting the flow. She paused her destruction of the book as words that were not her own filled a small part of a page. Chicken scratch for handwriting in blue ink was difficult to read, but the smooth signature at the bottom of the short paragraph was not:

Thank you, Kenshin Himura.

Kenshin, He wrote this?

She could barely think as fragments from his quick note flooded her. Words such as "I'm sorry" and "promise" filtered through her but the letter just simply would not piece together in her racing thoughts. Even as the limo slowed and her head throbbed, and Hiko moved to the back of the limo to open the door, Kenshin's note, though not understood, its presence calmed her. She could not explain why it calmed her, but it had. Enough at least for her to gain enough courage to peel herself from the seat and exit the limo, the stuffed rabbit and half-destroyed notebook in each hand.

XxxxxxX

Sango's room within the Crypt's sleeping quarters was small. A bed pushed on the wall opposite the door took up most of the room, beside it, a small bedside table with a lamp and an alarm clock. The thin mattress was rolled up at the foot of the bed with cleaned sheets folded neatly on top. Just two feet from the foot of the bed was a sliding door closet. The room was bland in color, the walls simply painted white with a beige trim.

"Welcome home, Sango." She whispered to herself. She unrolled the mattress and quickly dressed it in the deep brown sheets. In the closet she found two pillows which she quickly stuffed into their cases and tossed them onto the bed.

With a deep sigh, she fell onto the soft sheets. Her fight against Hiko left her drained, bruised, and with a startling realization of how weak she really was.

She had been panting, bent over her knees while he stood straight, calm and unaffected. They had sparred for what seemed like days, but truthfully, once Sango had the chance to look at the clock, realized the fight lasted only half an hour. It was shameful to realize that all her hard work and training amounted to nothing more than half an hour with an opponent of Hiko's level, and if she were to admit to herself the true scope of the man's power - which she would not do at least out loud - she would have been in awe of the man's strength and endurance. Damn bastard hadn't even broken out into a sweat.

"You did well for a female."

His words stung. She did not want to be acknowledged as a good female fighter; she wanted to be known as a great fighter. She wanted to be a woman dominating in a man's world.

"This job will be difficult, but I can trust you with her now that I know your skill."

Gods did she hate that man! If it weren't for the fact that she desperately needed the money, to payback her debt and for her younger brother, she wouldn't even have looked at the vain, arrogant bastard.

But even as a Yamanaka, she couldn't find work underground, not as a woman anyway. It was well known that nearly all of the Yamanaka men worth having were slain by Battousai's blade and that the women were useful only for defensive purposes and teaching. It was an opinion she wanted desperately to change.

Besides, Hiko worked most of the underground networks anyway. The bastard made it difficult for any of her family members to find respectable work outside of man-slaying. She, however, didn't want to go against the organization if this morning's battle was any sign of the strength of the organization or of its leaders, Hiko and the Battousai.

Then another thought came to her as she thought back on her spar with Hiko. If Hiko was that strong, then how did the Battousai compare?

She shivered at the thought. It was unfair how talented a man could become at the killing arts, but a female could not be as good or as strong.

Yet, as strong as the Battousai and his boss, Seigiro Hiko were, how was a young sixteen-year-old girl involved? Why was the Battousai, a feared manslayer (and an old pervert as Sango began to think of him and Hiko) getting hitched to a sixteen-year-old high school student?

It didn't make much sense. Did she witness something the Battousai had done but was too innocent to deserve death? Were the girl's parents in on the arrangement or was it done by force? Had the Battousai or Hiko simply kidnapped the girl for the sheer amusement of it all? Was she some sort of trophy won by the company during a well-placed assassination?

Many things just didn't add up. Girls her age were worried about college, school crushes and their slowly (very slowly) fading looks. Sixteen-year-olds don't just end up engaged to serial killers in a powerful underground and government-sanctioned Yakuza group. That is, unless the girl was pregnant…

Sango paused again, watching as a few people passed by through the corridor. They looked in briefly to her dark room before continuing on to the opposites sides of the building where the Rat desks were located. Most, she noticed, were in their twenties like herself, a far cry from the middle-aged men and women at Saito's Osaka headquarters for most of Hiko's Reapers, and even more were male. She sighed, staring into the empty space of her room, the monotony of it all boring her. She couldn't do much until her luggage arrived from her old apartment anyway to lightly redecorate the cold dwelling into a somewhat comfortable space.

"Damn it all! When are they going to get here?" She gritted her teeth and punched the pillow below her head. Comforted by the less lumpy consistency, Sango settled and allowed her sore muscles to relax a bit more and ponder about the girl that was soon to become her charge.

Kagome Higurashi. It was an interesting name. She was sure it belonged to a beautiful girl, probably athletic (at least, she hoped), and well versed in some form of defense. After all, she was marrying a killer; she had to have some sort of fighting skill to catch that man's eye.

She wondered, briefly, if they could be friends. A high school student and a twenty-two year old middle school dropout, it could work…possibly.

"Ah, finally!" The sigh of relief caught her off guard, but she settled quickly and tucked away the kunai she began to pull from her sleeve.

Sango glanced to her door. Leaning against the frame, a tall man with his hair tied in a short rat tail was silhouetted by the hall's light, her suitcases resting at his feet.

"Kenshin, over here." He turned to shout down the hallway to his companion. A shorter, red-haired teen joined him.

"These are heavy." She heard him mutter as he set them down with the rest of her bags. She also noted that the red-haired man carried most of her luggage.

"If you set them by the closet, It'd be much appreciated." She called out to them. She hoped they would move them the extra few feet. She didn't want to get up from the bed just yet.

"So you're the newest reaper to join our team." The taller man spoke to her as he entered with her things. "It's sad to see such a beauty drowned in hard work." He sent her a wide smile she assumed he meant to be charming. She glared at him, sitting up to be able to react to any unwanted advances.

"You're one of those womanizing perverts," Her glare intensified as his red-haired companion hid a snort behind his hand and nearly dropped the bags in the process. "Aren't you?"

He set down her bags near the closet and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I wouldn't call myself a pervert per se." His answer did not amuse her.

"Don't mind Miroku," The red head bowed lightly as he greeted her. It was daring and bold to pass such a slight nod of the head as a bow to someone older and stronger than him in the food chain of Hiko's organization. So, he thought himself better than her! Well isn't he a chauvinistic bastard! He was not better than the pervert. "He's harmless, just watch out for his hands."

Sango's eyebrows shot up at that. A groping pervert. Great!

The pervert stepped forward, away from her bags and the closet, towards the bed. "I'm Kido Miroku." He bowed, lower than the teen had. He then gave a hard slam to his companions back and said, "This guy is Himura Kenshin. Welcome to the Crypt."

She nodded her head in turn. She couldn't wait for this mission to be over so she could go home, back to Osaka. Well, it wouldn't be all bad, she thought. She could still see her little brother who was living in Tokyo.

"Yamanaka Sango." She noticed Kenshin seemed startled at the name, more so than the less-than-polite introduction would have been to anyone else. She didn't care if they remembered her or not or if they felt offended. She certainly didn't want to remember them, or anyone else in this place. She was here on a brief mission to safe-guard the Battousai's bride until the actual ceremony.   
She wasn't here to make friends.

"Yamanaka," He began, pulling Sango from her blank stare at the wall. Didn't she just try to dismiss them? "As in the Yamanaka clan from Osaka?"

Sango's attention focused entirely on him. She watched with sharp eyes as his right hand twitched ever so slightly. Did he have a grudge towards her clan? Could one of her family members have taken someone important from him? Even as she stared him down, he did not move more than the involuntary twitching of his right arm and fingers. He wanted to reach for something, but what?

"So, you recognized the name?" She stood, ready to reach for the tanto at her back. If he tried something against her, she would not hesitate to kill him. Hiko and this mission be damned, she was not going to let some kid get the better of her, not after all that damn training she went through as a kid.

"Yeah." He muttered. She noticed he settled a bit to the side, too much of a fighter's stance for her to relax as well. At least his hand stopped twitching.

"I'm sorry for your loss." It was low, but she heard the words and the sorrow behind them.

Locked deep within the sigh, almost as if he was following each whisper of soul from her long lost relatives, Sango couldn't help but wonder as to whom this person really was and why he felt sorry for the crime that the Battousai committed.

She could not blame the Battousai fully for her family's death. It was well known that the world of spying and assassination was full of dangers and problems that you were bound to face and one day fall to. There was always someone stronger, wiser, more-practiced that you were, and Sango was not a fool. She knew there were more skilled persons out there ready to kill anything that stands in the way of their job, but it was still hard to imagine her family gone.

Battousai was strong, she respected him for that, but she was not going to befriend him. His young wife, maybe. The girl could probably use a female who understood the system well enough to explain to her why she would be sleeping alone in a cold house for days, weeks or even months at a time. It would be hard on a young girl in an equally young marriage. Sango could take pity on that at least, having seen her mother go through the same thing.

She watched as the red-head bowed again, deep and humble. Remorse? Why would he feel sorry for her? Why would he feel guilty for her pain? Wasn't he a chauvinistic bastard? Wasn't he supposed to see her as inferior? He was a military-like bigot, so why did he seem genuinely upset to meet her, one of the two sole survivors of the Yamanaka clan from Osaka?

"Thank you." She responded dryly. She did not trust his word. His act could be just that, an act. He must be after revenge. She would watch him carefully, but for now, it seemed he wasn't going to do anything, yet.

She sat back on the bed, noticing he did not ease out of his fight-ready pose. She pulled the tanto from her back and slid it beneath the rumpled sheets for easier access. "It wasn't your fault." She added, a bit softer than she intended.

He seemed to frown at that, but didn't say anything more.

"So," Miroku coughed in to break the silence. "Have you been given an assignment yet?"

Sango sighed. Where these men seriously all a bunch of tittering women? All she heard throughout the time she lay resting, waiting for her luggage, was gossip. Who was Battousai? Secret Missions? Hiko's newest plans for a new branch in America? Battousai's new fiancé?

"Yes." She tried to turn on the bedside light, annoyed with the darkness, but nothing happened after she pulled the cord a few times, frustrated. " Idiots, I was transferred from Osaka for a reason."

"You need to put the bulb in." Kenshin said, moving to remove the shade. He opened the bedside drawer, rolling inside was a clear bulb, which he screwed into place. When Sango replaced the shade, he leaned down to plug in the cord and flipped on the light with the switch from the wall.

"You don't need to pull the cord." He added. "It doesn't work anyway."

It wasn't much light, but for such a small room, it was enough to soften the dark shadows stuck in the corners.

"Anything interesting?" Miroku continued. Did these idiots not want to leave? Didn't they have something else to do than bug her? Maybe some paperwork or something?

"Bodyguard work." She replied. She didn't want to give away too much information. Hiko strictly forbade her from speaking about it to strangers.

"Whom, if we may ask?" Kenshin gained more life now, but still, his gentleman act was getting on her nerves. She knew he really wasn't as polite as he seemed, it was a stupid act and she wanted him gone.

"Battousai's fiancé." She said, after some time. If she couldn't stop the gossip, she might as well kill two birds with one stone. She didn't want wrong information circulated about herself. If she was strong enough to protect the Battousai's fiancé, then she was good enough to be treated as any of the guys.

Their faces reflected utter shock. Kenshin's paled considerably as his eyes went distant for a few moments.

"And before you even say it, forget it, I won't tell you who it is."

"Damn Hiko," Kenshin growled, a hard glint in his eyes. "Why can't he leave Kagome alone?"

Before the hard glint could focus on anything other than murdering the organization's boss, Sango had jumped from the bed and pinned Kenshin to the far wall next to the door.

"How do you know that name?" She growled. A leak of information could spell disaster for her mission. It could wind up killing her, Kagome and the Battousai. She needed to know how he found out.

Before she could drill him for information however, a strong hand gripped her wrist. A light scent of pine needles and blood crossed her nose as a strong breeze struck her face. She couldn't release herself or contemplate a way out of her lock as she was slammed into the wall, a sleek black gun pointed directly at her temple.

From the corner of her eye she saw that the once lavender eyes of the young red-haired teen hardened over to a deep purple. Pale yellow light flashed over his narrowed eyes, giving his iris a cold gold glare. It was the narrow calculating gaze of a pure-bred killer. The intense stare and large killing aura suffocated her. She couldn't breathe without thinking it may be her last.  
She heard the gun click as it was cocked. Her eyed widened as his weight pressed against her back.

Even though she was taller than him by a few inches, and what she previously assumed as stronger, he had her successfully trapped against the wall and his heavy bulk. She could feel the strong muscles of his chest, legs and biceps as he held her there.

"Kenshin!" She heard Miroku shout. She could see his weapon was drawn, pointed at Kenshin.

Hot breath fanned against her ear and neck.

"What exactly did Hiko tell you?" He asked. His grip loosened enough to pull out her hidden kunai and shuriken from sleeves, pockets and small adjustments she had made to all her clothing for them to fit comfortably and inconspicuously.

How did he find those? But that would have to wait for another time, because Kenshin lightly tapped his gun against her temple to remind her how serious he was.

"You want answers," She bit her lip hard, but continued, "Ask Hiko!"

Damn them all. She wasn't going to snitch out on Hiko or the Battousai. Her mission was to protect them, to protect Kagome and her identity. If her only act was to not tell Kenshin what little information she was given, then her mission was successful.

Kenshin tossed her back onto the bed. She bounced several times. When she stopped, she felt the tanto bump her thigh. She went to reach for it when the barrel of Kenshin's gun was once again pointed to her.

"Leave it." He said. She retracted her hand. Was it luck that he got the best of her? Must be, she just had a fight against Hiko, so she should still be tired.

"Sango-chan, calm down." Miroku said, walking over to Kenshin he lowered his gun. Kenshin, however, did not.

"You want me to calm down?" She screeched. "That bastard's pointing a gun at me and you want me to calm down?"

Miroku nodded. "Yes. Kenshin isn't one to miss a shot." He looked to Kenshin, a silent conversation passed between them as Sango watched on, even as he continued to speak to her.

"And he should know this information."

"Why?"

"They're classmates." Miroku said quickly, and then spoke to Kenshin.

"I'm sure she's interested now, she won't attack again, right Sango-chan?" At her nod Kenshin allowed Miroku to lower his hand, and when it was fully lowered from shooting range, she grabbed her dagger and tossed it, blade first towards Kenshin's head. He ducked it with ease, pulling Miroku with him.

"Well, at least now you're weaponless." Kenshin sighed, reset the weapon and holstered it behind his back.

"So," Sango said, crossing her legs and arms. "You're Kagome's classmate?"

"Actually," Miroku cut in. "We both are."

Sango narrowed her eyes. "Exactly how old are you two?"

"Funny thing," Miroku laugh nearly seemed to be a whine. "I'm 24."

"Then I'm not the only one he's sent back to high school then?" Sango seemed pleased with that. At least she won't suffer the boredom alone. "So we're all in our twenties. I thought you were at least in your teens." She pointed her chin up to Kenshin.

"I am." He replied, to which she did nothing more than blink. "I'm seventeen."

"Bullshit." Sango cursed. "There's no way a seventeen-year-old was let in on this."

"Well, he was there for the engagement. after all." Miroku looked to between Sango and Kenshin, wondering if he'd have to step in to break up a future scuffle.

"What?" Sango yelled. Kenshin merely pulled out his cell phone when it began to vibrate in his pocket. He glanced at the caller i.d. before putting it back. "That means you know the Battousai's true identity."

"Yes," Kenshin said. His phone began to vibrate again, he didn't pick up. "We both do."

Sango was speechless. Hiko could trust these two buffoons with the Battousai's identity, but not her, the one guarding his fiancé?

"Aren't you going to answer that?" Miroku asked Kenshin, glancing at his pocket where his phone kept going off.

"I'll call him back." He waved off the concern and focused back to Sango.

"He obviously hasn't told you for some reason, so I won't tell you either." Kenshin said, beside him, Miroku nodded as if ordered into silence.

"And how exactly do you expect me to do my mission to any degree of success without that information." She huffed. She knew she wasn't going to win. The Battousai's identity was so secret, only a few people knew who he was at all.

"You did just fine against me." Kenshin said.

"If Battousai cuts off my head I'm going to haunt you two." She growled. Miroku just smiled.

"I'd gladly welcome your eternal company, my dearest Sango." She replied with a punch to his face.

"He won't cut off your head." Kenshin said firmly. "He doesn't kill females or children, you're safe."

Any tension Sango had about it disappeared. So he won't go after her brother then. Good.

"Wait!" She looked at Miroku. "Why exactly are you back in high school? You don't seem like the bodyguard type."

"I'm not," He answered. "I gather intelligence from the region. I work directly for Aoshi, Hiko and the Battousai solely. I'm in high school because…"

Kenshin stepped on his foot. Miroku shut up immediately.

"It's classified, sorry." Miroku quickly corrected.

"Oh." Sango breathed out. "And you."

"I'm seventeen, remember." Kenshin pointed to his school uniform jacket, his finger just under the crest of his school. "I have to go."

"You still haven't explained..." Miroku cut her off.

"Yes, but without knowing the Battousai's true identity, we can't possibly give you any reasonable explanation. You're just going to have to trust us." Miroku said.

Kenshin nodded. "And you're not going to find out from Kagome either. She hardly speaks to me because of the incident, and I doubt she'll tell you."

"And why exactly are you here, Kenshin?"

"Classified." He managed to say before a tall, spiky haired teen ran into her room.

"God damn it Kenshin! There you are!" He was breathing heavy. "Why didn't you answer your phone?"

Kenshin's demeanor changed quickly. "I'm sorry Sano, I was helping Miroku get these bags up to Miss Sango."

"Never mind her," He grabbed the smaller boy by the arm and tugged him to the door. "Hiko wants to see you before you head home."

"He's back?" Kenshin asked. "He wasn't in his office when I checked in."

"Yeah. He's back, muttering something about groceries."

Kenshin frowned. "He better not have gone through my fridge."

"Sorry man." Sano said. "But he probably cleaned out whatever you had left that was good."

Kenshin sighed. "Never mind."

With a wave he was out the door. Sango and Miroku looked towards one another, now alone together in the small room.

"Well, goodbye, Sango-dearest." Miroku smiled and made to leave as well before she drilled into him without Kenshin to keep his tongue in check.

"Wait." Sango paused when Miroku's face brightened. "What's his deal?"

Miroku looked confused.

"Kenshin." She elaborated. "Why is he working for Hiko so young?"

Miroku smiled sadly. "Hiko or Kenshin will need to tell you. Besides, I don't really know myself." With those final words he was gone, allowing Sango to ponder Kenshin and her new mission as a bodyguard for one Higurashi Kagome.

XxxxxxX

Kagome stepped out of the limo before a beautiful home. The winding cobblestone path was rimmed with sweet smelling flowers and budding orchids. The door and forward window was guarded by a skillfully trimmed cherry tree, its pink petals dusting the front porch that opened to a strong, dark stained, double doors.

Hiko watched her appreciation of the handsome home as she admired the natural and very neutral tones the house had been painted in. Bored now, Hiko stepped onto the cobblestone path, and with long strides walked to the double doors. Kagome's soft foot falls echoed behind his own as she followed him up the path.

With a set of keys he fished from his pocket, Hiko opened the door and allowed Kagome inside before following. The modern western style of the building melted away as soon as Hiko turned on the light. They stood upon deep ceramic tile that continued to the main level of the house. They broke off where the main level rose up a step and opened into an expanse of hard wood floors. At the end of the hall, Kagome could see the beginning of a living room.

"This way," He said. "And don't bother taking off your shoes, this place hasn't been dusted in ages."

Hiko, with his boots still on, stepped up and into the home. Dust kicked up with each step he took, making Kagome sneeze. She toed her right foot back into the sneaker she half pulled off and joined Hiko at the end of the hall.

"I thought you said Himura-kun lived here?" She said through the cupped hand over her mouth. Despite the shield it provided her, dust filtered through her fingers as she opened them slightly to breathe in cool air, and she sneezed again.

Hiko pulled a handkerchief from the inside pocket of his suit jacket and held it out for her. She did not take it. Without pause or word, he replaced it back into his breast pocket and continued into the house.

"He does, on paper anyway." Hiko said, flipping on another light. The yellow florescent lights flooded the boxed in family room with pale color. It reflected off the white walls and maple center table. Deep grey couches lay against the far wall and adjacent wall circling the heavy wood table. Before the seating lay a large cabinet housing books, empty photo frames and a television shrouded in fine dust.

The enclosed hallway Hiko had taken her down to get into the house now branched off into two separate corridors leading both left and right. Each end was engulfed in darkness, though to her left, a door could be seen by the soft glow from the wood as it reflected the weak light.

"This way," Hiko said, following the left corridor, passed the door and into another open room.

Kagome tripped as a new landing emerged without warning. She cried out and fell to the floor, dust clouding around her, filming the soft moonlight from a pair of glass doors from the room she just fell into.

"Watch your step." Hiko pulled her to her feet by her arm, his strong grip on her forearm painfully squeezing old bruises.

"You should've told me it was there," She muttered beneath her breath then bit her tongue for silence. Last thing she needed was Hiko hearing her, there's no telling what he would, or could do.  
Kagome bent to pick up the dropped stuffed rabbit and the torn math notebook, the note from Kenshin tucked inside.

She managed to find the hard corner of the island counter in the center of the kitchen with her hip when Hiko blinded her as he flooded the room with bright lights.

The room was large. It housed both a beautiful kitchen and a sparingly decorated family room. This space was simply furnished. A few bar stools were tucked beneath the island counter, a kotatsu and several pillows sat in the center of the living room before a modest sized outdated television set.

The kitchen's beautiful granite counters were covered with more than several months' worth of dust. The gas range stove was still new and unused.

Hiko moved over the fridge, pulling it open and searching the meager contents inside. Left over Chinese takeout, a broken box of pizza, an old carton of milk (half-empty), several fruits and an old bowl of cereal from what appeared to have been Kenshin's breakfast that morning all lay inside. Hiko perused them thoughtfully before lifting the lid to the old broken box of pizza and pulling out the last slice. He shut the door, leaving the empty box inside.

"You're going to have your work cut out for you," Hiko snorted through his chuckle, taking a bite of cold pizza before spitting it out into the sink. "I hate mushrooms." He tossed the rest into the sink as well, reopened the fridge and pulled the carton of Chinese take-out with a pair of chopsticks still stuck inside.

"Lo Mein, perfect." He ate as he made his way back out of the kitchen and into the hallway once more. "This way, girl, and keep up."

Kagome followed, annoyed with the useless detour to the kitchen so Hiko could raid Himura-kun's fridge.

"Now pay attention." Hiko said, finishing the carton of lo mein before placing it on the living room coffee table. Kagome frowned at the added trash to the untouched room, but did not comment. "In the morning Kenshin and a driver will escort you to your school, where you both will go about your classes regularly.

"Once you are finished, the driver will pick you up and escort you to the Crypt, where I will give you further details about the wedding and what is expected of you."  
Kagome scowled. There it was again, the marriage rubbed in her face like sand paper. She already hated the situation as it was, but to have Hiko deciding where she went, where she slept and how she got around was suffocating. Was Himura-kun going to be as constricting? Would he set standards for her to follow, rules she could not break?

For some reason, Kagome could not imagine Himura-kun doing that. It seemed for Hiko's style to control where people went and whom they socialized with, but not Kenshin.

"After the meeting, I'll arrange for the ceremony to be performed in my office."

Kagome blanched. She didn't even have a say in the wedding? Wasn't it a bride's dream to plan out her own wedding, choose the locations, the people who attended, the food that was served, the music that was played and the song she and her new husband would dance to as they engraved the memory in their hearts.

Kagome wanted for her song to be played. She'd had it picked out since she could remember, and she didn't want to give it up. It was her dream besides a successful and happy career, that she and her beloved would dance to that one song.

"No." Her tone was surprisingly firm for how low she had whispered. It struck Hiko swiftly and efficiently, stopping his speech about the going on of the next day to glance at the small girl.

"No." Kagome repeated. She was louder, bolder and staring at Hiko with fierce blue eyes. "No."

"No?" Hiko asked smoothly. It was a taunt, a laugh at her sudden rebellion. "You have no choice, my dear. Time is money and money is something I don't have the luxury of wasting."

"No!" She screamed. Tears flew as her dreams of a white wedding and a happy life flittered out the window like fragile dust, small and unnoticed by those that did not care.

"You can't just treat people like this." She continued. Hiko stayed silent, stepped back and allowed her to cry, to scream, to voice her frustrations, though no matter what she said, it didn't change his mind.

"I've planned my wedding to a T since I was little." Kagome glanced around the room, taking in the work, the dust, the future she was about to share with her classmate in an empty home with no soul, no character, no life of which she could see.

"I wanted to marry in a traditional Shinto wedding at my grandfather's shrine. I wanted my family to witness it, for my father to hand me to the man I love and to share it with those I care about. I wanted to dance to my song, I wanted my wedding. You can't just force people into something without asking, without considering the feelings of those involved."

She breathed deeply and frowned as Hiko did not seem phased. "I don't want to live in a house whose only residents are ghosts and a teenage killer that never lives here. I.."

"You," Hiko said, cutting into her tirade. "Is the only person you can think about is you?"

"How dare you!" Kagome screamed. She grabbed the empty lo mein container and threw it at Hiko, chopsticks and all. The paper box hit his chest lightly before falling to the floor, the sauce from the noodles staining his shirt. "How selfish can I be when you are the one forcing me into something I did not approve of!"

"Everyone keeps throwing things at me today." Hiko sighed, pulled out the handkerchief he previously offered to Kagome, and began to mop up the sauce.

Kagome wanted to hit him. She wanted to ram the chopsticks down his throat or something that would cause him pain, the same pain she felt and could not get rid of. She wanted him to experience the loss she felt, have him share in her broken dreams because with every demand he laid upon her she buckled more, broke more, despaired more.

She felt like a mirror she could not fix. Cracked, broken and useless. Her reflection glared back at her from the depths of the mirror, a forgotten self that she could no longer reach. Her old self was drowning in the mirror, and Kagome felt that soon there would be nothing left for the mirror to show other than a broken woman and her equally broken husband teetering on the cusp of insanity.

"You are selfish, my dear." Hiko reiterated. "You have not thought of Kenshin in all of this. Your marriage is saving his life."

How? Kagome wanted to demand, but instead fell silent and watched her shattered mirror self thrash in the broken shards.

"He needs someone, and if there is one thing you wish to take to your grave at the end of this life," Hiko paused as he walked out of the living room and into the hallway towards the door. "Sleep well knowing that you are about to save a young man from a horrible fate." Hiko then opened the door and left, locking her into a beautiful, but dusty, prison.

XxxxxxX

Kenshin followed Sanosuke out of the dorms towards the elevator in the middle of the floor. The small atrium was empty except for several people passing from one end of the building to the other and a small group waiting for the elevator. Floor to ceiling windows stood adjacent to the elevators, overlooking the glittering lights of Tokyo's metropolis over thirty floors below.

"So, you have no idea why he wants to see you?" Sanosuke fiddled with his cell phone, pressing several buttons as they waited for the lift to reach their floor.

"None." Kenshin glanced around briefly, the small crowd of people thinned as the elevator to their right opened up. They didn't get on.

"Aren't you two getting in?" Asked one of the lift's occupants, his thumb pressing the button to keep the lift open.

"We'll catch the next one." Kenshin smiled in reply. "We're not in a rush."

The man only nodded and smiled kindly to them as the doors closed.

Kenshin pulled a key from the pocket of his school pants and entered it into the small keyhole below a conspicuously placed button by the middle elevator. He turned the key, watched as the button lit with a dim red light, and pushed it. The sound of the elevator cables pulling the lift was loud, catching the attention of several people who happened to walk by just as Kenshin replaced the key into his pocket.

"I always thought that lift was broken." A woman said as she walked by, stopping briefly when she noticed the lights to the middle lift was working.

"It is," Kenshin said. "They must be doing some tests on it."

The woman simply hummed and continued on her way. A few moments after her departure, the lift doors opened. Kenshin and Sano walked inside quickly, but before the doors could close fully, an arm laden with reports stopped it.

"Thanks for holding the lift." The man sneered as he tried to push his way inside.

Sanosuke, annoyed, simply rerouted the man back out of the lift and slammed his hand on the singular button on the right hand panel.

"Sorry man, broken." He said. The man didn't have time to reply before the doors closed; however his cursing could be heard through the metal walls.

Sano resumed his game on his phone as they rode the elevator up to Hiko's office.

"What are you playing?" Kenshin asked, peering onto the screen.

"Some new game. I found it just after we assassinated that old man." Sano replied distractedly, his character on the game hunting and shooting its way through the massive crowd.

"What's the purpose?"

"To kill stuff." Sano's character tossed a grenade into a mass of people. "And to find the boss. He's hidden. You only see shadows of him briefly before you die. It's my purpose to find him.   
Actually!" Sano perked up looking towards his friend. "Do you mind if I send you the game, it's supposed to help. By sending it to other people, you get more ammo and toys to maul through the guards to get to the boss, it's really cool."

"Sorry," Kenshin pulled out his phone. It was old, and had a small screen. "I don't exactly have the required screen size for a game like that. Besides, it's probably linked to the internet and this phone is ancient."

"Tough. Oh well, when you get a new phone, I'll send it to you. It's so cool how sending it to certain people gets you elevated points." Sano added.

The elevator stopped and the two men looked up as the doors opened into a large space. Sitting at her desk was Hiko's secretary Omime.

She looked up as they stepped out of the elevator. "Oh, Kenshin-sama, Master Hiko is expecting you." She said and stood from her desk.

"I guess you don't need me then?" Sano smiled, rubbing the back of his head. He tried to sneak back into the elevator as the doors were about to close but Omime stopped him quickly by grabbing him around the waist.

"Oh no!" She said. "You have paperwork to do!"

"But I don't wanna!" Sano cried as he tried to pry the smaller woman off. "I hate paperwork!"

"Sorry, but Hiko-sama really needs those reports." She grunted from the effort to hold him tight.

Omime managed to wrangle him into her desk chair before the several monitors at her station. She huffed and wiped the sweat from her brow.

"There, all settled." She turned to Kenshin. "You may go in Kenshin-sama, Master Hiko's waiting for you."

Kenshin nodded, and just as the doors of Hiko's study were about to close behind him, he smiled. He could hear Sano's cries as Omime forced him to type out his reports.

"Sagara Sanosuke! I'll be watching you very closely!" She scowled. "And don't you dare mess up my computer!"

"Yes ma'am." Was all Kenshin could hear of Sanosuke's small reply before the doors shut completely and he was face to face with Hiko.


	5. The house that built him.

Chapter Five:

The House that Built Him

"Ah, Kenshin, there you are." Hiko said from his reclined position in his heavily padded leather chair. "Why didn't you answer my call?"

Kenshin frowned. "That was over an hour ago."

"Kenshin," Hiko sighed.

"I won't forget her, Hiko." Kenshin interrupted immediately. "I can'tforget her."

"The dead are meant to be forgotten." Hiko shifted his weight and sat up. "Let the dead rest and give yourself a break."

"Don't ask that of me." Kenshin walked closer to his desk, bypassing the black couches the Higurashi family had been sitting on the night before last. "You know I never will."

"You were thirteen boy," Hiko growled. "Don't allow an older woman such control over your future."

"Like I allow you," Kenshin snapped.

"You don't like grappling with her do you?" Kenshin continued. "You want full, unopposed control over me. Even after her death, you're still fighting her."

"I'm not the one fighting." Hiko stood and went for the carafe where a fresh pot of strong coffee had been placed. He poured two mugs, black, but left one there as he returned to his desk. Kenshin did not move to retrieve the mug served for him.

"You are." He finished with a sip.

"I'm not." Kenshin countered, choosing not to understand what Hiko meant.

"Are too," Hiko responded in childish banter. "She manipulates you in so many ways."

Hiko stood again, left the mug on his desk and did something he had not done since Kenshin was a child.

Hiko hugged him.

Kenshin stood ramrod still, unsure how to respond to the unusual contact between him and Hiko, and then suddenly he was a child once more. He leaned into the affection he had been rarely given and touched his forehead to Hiko's chest. His ears filled with the strong beat of Hiko's heart and the thunderous rush of his breathing. The musky smell of out-dated cologne and something that spoke of only Hiko as his strength and confidence seeped from him and cocooned Kenshin in a safety blanket. Years of turmoil, grief, and struggle melted for just a moment as he basked in the safety, the comfort of the man he used to regard as his father.

He had been the orphan of the organization for so long, since he could remember. Years of walking through these halls alone, training beneath the building endlessly, and tearing himself apart as he killed for a debt he didn't think he could ever repay, disappeared. He was not alone anymore in those halls. He was able to mimic Hiko's every step, jumping from shadow to shadow as he followed. Training became a game, a sport lovingly shared solely between father and son for no other purpose than the bonding and companionship it created. And his debt, it seemed to have never existed. The deaths, his burden for so long lessened on his heart, his mind, and soul for a just a brief second that he could actually think, hear himself and his dreams for that moment, and in that moment, Kenshin gained a bit of hope. A hope he could not grasp, or kindle into flame when he was alone with nothing more than his bloodstained sword and cold gun for company.  
Hiko whispered something as he placed a large hand on Kenshin's head, threading his fingers through his red hair, but Kenshin could not hear them. And then, Hiko pulled away.  
Cold seeped into Kenshin's bones once more, light dimmed and the shadow he had once been following disappeared from view. The floor fell from below him into darkness where he struggled to swim up to the back of the man he could see walking away from him again.

Within him, the little boy that had been caged cried as he was trust back into the darkness without walls, without soul and light to guide him out of the ever going circle. The weight he had always known returned, heavier than it had ever been before.

From the back of his mind, a woman frowned and spoke over the whispered words of Hiko, drowning them once more.

"I told you, he will never save you." Tomoe embraced the child within him. Her soft, small hands were cold against his frozen cheeks. She brushed the ever-present tears from them and combed through red unruly hair, pushing stray strands behind keen ears she wished she could have covered sooner.

Kenshin stood still, his head lowered where it had been resting on Hiko's chest before the man returned to his desk, and to the reality that Kenshin was a tool of the organization, a sword, property of Hiko and the contracts given by their government.

Tomoe whispered again from the back of his mind. She hugged the child left abandoned deeper into her shield of darkness, and his heart skipped a beat. "You can only save yourself, Kenshin."  
"Your marriage to Kagome will be this weekend. I will need you to be prepared, your house is horrible for your new bride." Hiko spoke. His voice was back to the hard, sharp tones of an experienced and emotionless businessman.

Kenshin nodded absentmindedly, not truly hearing what had been said. He didn't notice Hiko raise an eyebrow in question.

What had Hiko whispered to him? Kenshin wondered.

"Nothing you should hear, yet." Tomoe answered. The child's cries wailing above her.

Why? He questioned to himself. What was Tomoe protecting him from that was shattering him from the subconscious out?

"In time, Kenshin. You are not ready for it yet." She whispered and pulled his inner child closer, her frown marring her beautiful face. "Neither of you were ready for it."

"Kenshin." Hiko's call seemed to come from a far distance. Within his mind Tomoe and the crying child faded, and as he lifted his head, stray tears rolled down his cheek.

"Kenshin?" Hiko stood from his chair quickly, but did not make it around the corner before Kenshin stopped him.

"Goodnight," Kenshin bowed deeply and turned away from Hiko. He walked to the double doors out of Hiko's office and opened them. "Hiko-sama."

The doors shutting behind him were loud. The snap of metal against metal rang, cutting something within him, something he once held dearly yet he could not name anymore.

"Kenshin, I'm sorry." Tomoe said as she cried with him.

XxxxxxX

Kenshin did not notice the strange look from Sanosuke and Omime as he leaned heavily on the closed doors of Hiko's office. He rested his throbbing head against the cool dark wood, breathing as slowly as he could. The others did not speak, recognizing Kenshin's need for silence and peace.

Sanosuke pulled his sore, stiff fingers from the keyboard. Even though the stiffness bothered him greatly, he did not crack his knuckles to relieve the pressure. He was unsure if the sharp sound would cause Kenshin to snap.

Beside him, Omime leaned in and whispered, "Do you think he's okay?"

Sanosuke shrugged in reply. Truthfully, he knew there was something wrong. Kenshin had never left Hiko's presence looking so tired and defeated, as if Hiko had reminded him of something painful, worse than Tomoe's death.

"Should we-" Omime started, but the firm grip of Sanosuke's hand around her wrist silenced her.

"Leave him." Sanosuke breathed out sharply. "That is, unless you have a sudden curiosity to see the afterlife?"

Sanosuke watched the blood drain from her face. "But," She stumbled over the simple word in her fear. "He wouldn't."

"He would." Sanosuke turned and continued to stare at his friend as he leaned against the solid doors, as if he were trying to hold back something terrible inside.

Kenshin's face was no longer shaded by his red hair as he lifted his head. Blood and breath seemed to leave Sano then, his grip tightened on Omime's wrist. He did not hear her gasp of pain as he focused on his friend's tearstained face. The sorrow, pain and torture cut deep upon his sallow skin were unusual and terrifying for Sanosuke to see on his normally strong teammate.

The man before him was not the strong, determined Kenshin he knew. This man was a child, kicked and beaten to the point where he couldn't seem to believe he'd survived the tragedy that had befallen him.

"Ken-" But Sano could not finish his whispered cry for his friend. The man who had lifted his head and was now walking away from the door that he'd sealed his nightmares in was not Kenshin. This man was hollow, running on a faint memory of what his life used to be.

As the elevator doors closed behind the red-haired young man, Sanosuke cursed, watched as he rode down to the lobby, and punched his fist through Omime's computer screen.

Omime cried out, forgetting about their lost work as she tried to delicately remove Sano's hand.

"Damn it." Sanosuke cursed through clenched teeth. "How can that bastard let him leave like that!"

"That bastard," Hiko said from the newly opened office doors, "Can't save him from himself."

Hiko walked to Omime's desk phone and pressed speed dial number four. "Shinomori, you're needed in my office. You have ten minutes, and bring your medical kit."

He hung up the phone and turned back to Sanosuke. "Only she can help him." He elaborated.

Sano, however, didn't ask if the 'she' that Hiko referred to was Kagome, or Tomoe.

XxxxxxX

Kagome watched the door closed behind Hiko's back, the lock's snap into place echoed within her. The darkness that was once at bay with Hiko's presence within the empty home came alive and began to swallow the light, reaching for Kagome as she backed into the only lamp in the hall. Her anger receding into fear as the house clawed at her desperately.

She gasped for breath as the suffocating loneliness of the home caught up to her. Dust swirled upon the moonlight gliding through the curtains and condensed into a weight so heavy she couldn't stand anymore. Her knees buckled and more dust flew into the air, filling it with a musky, forgotten smell that tore at her soul.

This place was empty, devoid of any living soul, and any happiness a house should have. Compared to her home, where the walls seemed to glow with the laughter it had soaked up from her childhood, Kenshin's house was sealed up. It was almost as if the white paint wrapped the entire area in a barrier that repelled any sort of happy feeling and memory that may have been here.  
She cried for Kenshin, hugging her stuffed rabbit close hoping to channel her own childhood happiness through its downy fur. His childhood must have been horrible if this home had been where he grew up in, alone and unloved without childish fantasies and curiosities. It felt as if the home had been stuffed in a box, like a sock that didn't have a match, and was thrown into the attic to be forgotten and left alone.

Kagome touched the wall, cold paint reflected her fingertips in shadows. She stood with the help of that wall and slowly stepped out of the family room. Seating her childhood protector on a nearby armchair, Kagome began to turn on every light in the house. The kitchen, the living room, the formal dinning room tucked away in that door just off the family room by the kitchen's entrance, the entrance hallway and the right hand corridor were all alight and keeping at bay the shadows of Kenshin's sorrows.

Shadows slithered and faded with each room opened up to the light. Kagome smiled. With all the lights on, the house was beautiful and had the potential for a wonderful soul.

Dust tickled her nose and again she sneezed. She frowned into her hand and walked into the kitchen to clean her hand. From the hallway, her soft white rabbit watched her, one ear flopped over an eye cutely. She smiled at it, but frowned when she noticed the white pelt was covered lightly with gray snow.

Searching for cleaners, Kagome's raid of Kenshin's kitchen turned up nothing more than a simple roll of paper towels and dishwashing soap. With little else to do, Kagome busied herself on cleaning what she could see of the family room. She wondered briefly if she should venture farther into the house, into the other half where Hiko had not gone. However, the darkness at the edge of the soft light condensed into a barrier Kagome dared not to breach without Kenshin, so she ignored her curiosity, and her encounter with Hiko, and continued to clean the dust. She even began to ignore herself as she cried away her pain and stepped into the role of the dutiful house-wife.

XxxxxxX

Entering his home that morning, after a rather long walk to return to his mind, Kenshin felt alienated once more. The lights, which he had clearly remembered shutting off yesterday morning, were on. Silently, Kenshin closed the door behind him and pulled his gun from his back. As he walked up and into the hall, he removed the safety and scanned what he could see of the family room. When he made it to the junction of the house, Kenshin realized another important detail he had missed. The room had been dusted.

Years of his neglected housework had been wiped clean, for the most part, from his family room. He lowered his gun in his shock, walking farther into the carpeted area to get a better look at his cleaned furniture. Then, in the corner of his eye, he caught the sight of silky black hair. He raised his gun level to the small female asleep on his couch, curled tightly upon one of the cushions and breathing lightly. He watched her rub her cheek into the warmth of the pillow she rested on, clearing some of the hair that shrouded her face.

"Kagome," he whispered lightly. Lowering his weapon, Kenshin stared at the young girl sleeping in his home, unafraid of the dangers being his wife will cause her. He smiled and put his gun away. Lifting her into his arms gently, he walked down the hall towards his bedroom, laying her beneath the sheets.

"I'm afraid my room is all I can give you for now." He whispered to her as she shivered beneath icy sheets. "I haven't had the time to clear out yours yet."

Leaving her to rest, Kenshin closed the door and wandered to the kitchen, finding that it too had been briefly cleaned, and in more ways than one.

"Damn Hiko," Kenshin cursed as a preliminary check of his fridge revealed an empty box of pizza and his missing lo-mein.

His pantry was also empty, and with great distain, he realized how much his home seriously lacked. He couldn't exactly allow his new bride to live in a place so full of nothing but emptiness and the graying decay of dust.

With most of his time spent away, Kenshin hardly recognized his home's interior. Though he knew the layout like the back of his hand, he couldn't exactly say what color the couch had been before it had been cleaned. Neither could he say he enjoyed living in a place where even his soft breathing echoed off the bare walls. If one thing, he realized how desperately he missed normal human companionship every time he stepped through his door.

Most days, he didn't spend more than one night at home. He spent enough time to check that moths had not eaten away at his sheets and school uniform, before returning to the relative warmth and community that the Crypt provided.

Now however, with the prospects of a bride by this weekend and an uneasy future, Kenshin could not allow his home to remain in shambles. Yet, today's events left him too tired to even pick up a rag. Shutting the lights off, he returned to his family room and heavily sank into what had previously been Kagome's makeshift bed. Her warmth and the scent of her shampoo weakly clung to the pillow, cutting through the stale smell of an unloved home.

And though the sentiment seemed odd, Kenshin could not help but feel that this is how he wished to return home. Warm, bright, and welcomed by someone that knew and yet loved him for who he was. The years seemed to drain away as he fell into slumber, comforted by the warmth of a home he wished to have and the sweet scent of plum that no longer existed.

XxxxxxX

Kagome awoke in darkness, wrapped lightly in warm silk blue sheets. Blinking sleepily, she rose from the feather pillow and pulled the silk sheets around her, surveying the room through half-lidded eyes.

The room, she realized with quick alarm, had not been the same place she had fallen asleep. Panicked, she jumped from the strange bed and twirled in her search for the exit, wrapping herself tightly in the sheets, tripping over it. She screamed as she fell onto hard wood floor.

The door to the room snapped open, and in the weak light, she saw the tall, red-haired silhouette of Kenshin, his clothes rumpled and a gun in his hands. He blinked when he found her on the floor, smiled and put away his weapon.

"Good afternoon." He crouched beside her. Kagome mumbled a quick greeting as she struggled free, he hands bound to her sides.

Kenshin's large, warm hands loosely pulled her up from her shoulders. Once seated he slipped his fingers under an edge by her elbow and followed the seam down to her hip, pulling it open. The strong tug threw her off balance and she slipped to the side, landing with a deep blush onto his chest.

"There, you're free now." She barely heard him say as she felt the sheets pool around her. She didn't exactly feel free, but didn't say anything, as a dutiful house-wife should.

"Are you hungry?" The question cut through her action of hoping on one foot to get out of the tangled sheets at her ankle. Blinking, she nearly tripped again in her distraction. A strong hand gripping her wrist stopped her from falling.

Facing her classmate, Kagome noticed the mop of red hair pulled haphazardly into a high pony-tail, several strands loose and twisted from sleep. They fell along broad shoulders and framed his angular face, the cross shaped scar standing firm against pale skin and crimson hair.

"You're," Kagome began, but stopped and turned away. It was a stupid thing to say.

"I'm?" The question was smooth, asking her to continue.

"You're not wearing the bandage." She whispered. Kenshin's eyebrows tightened in his confusion. "Over the scar. You're not wearing it."

Kenshin blinked, stunned. He raised a pale hand over the deep, dark, cross-shaped scar on his left cheek. The rough skin almost burned beneath his fingers.

With an odd smile, he flattened his palm over it, blocking the mark of his shame from her. "Does it bother you? I'm sorry."

Kagome lowered her head. She wanted to say no. It was his home, why shouldn't he feel comfortable in it? He could walk around without the bandage if he wanted too, but Kagome couldn't tell him that. With it on, Kagome could almost forget Monday night, and the fact that soon she was going to be his bride. The bandage almost allowed her to hide from her problems, just as much as it allowed him to hide from the world.

"A little." Her words were so faint, she didn't think he heard them. She hoped he didn't. It was shameful, but, she didn't know what else to do.

Kenshin just continued to smile, his hand covering the left half of his face. He turned away from her and began to pull things out from drawers.

"You can use my shower," he said while pulling clothing wrapped in clear plastic bags from his dresser.

She must have worn her confusion on her face because Kenshin turned, hiding the scarred cheek by looking over his right shoulder, and said laughing lightly, "Moths".

Kagome nodded wordlessly, and busied herself by looking anywhere but at Kenshin.

The room, she noticed, was simply furnished, much like his family room had been. There was a tall dresser, that she could hear Kenshin shuffling through, the dark wooden furniture sat directly across from the bed beside the door. On top of it was a large flat screen television that looked like it had never once been turned on.

The walls were bare, left white. The king-sized bed divided the room and was flanked by two small night stands, both toped with shaded lamps standing sentinel beside a large, rough-iron headboard. The intricate weaving and pattern of the heavy art piece was the only decoration in the room.

Adjacent to the bed, the door to a full bath lay open, showcasing a large, spa-like tub from the opening. And on that same wall an armoire stood tall and imposing.

Crossing her arms around her, Kagome stayed facing the bathroom, listening as Kenshin left the room and returned moments later with her meager luggage.

"Wha-" She choked briefly on her words. "What did you have in mind?" She continued breathlessly.

The door creaked where Kenshin must have been standing, ready to close the door to offer her some sort of veiled privacy. "A nice little restaurant not too far from here. I think you'll enjoy it." With that, the door closed, leaving her alone once more.

XxxxxxX

Kenshin watched as Kagome smoothed her hands over her yellow sundress nervously. The train they stood on just made a stop, allowing other passengers on, congesting them into a tight corner where Kagome was only scant inches from being pressed against his chest. Readjusting his grip on the safety bar, Kenshin slipped one hand into hers, squeezing as the train jerked to a start.

Smiling softly, Kenshin leaned closer to her so she could hear him say, "Relax, think of this as my way of thanking you for the notes you let me borrow."

She nodded, but didn't raise her head. As he made to move away, she whispered, "Under the circumstances, this doesn't feel like a thank you dinner."

He frowned into her hair as the car jerked, pushing her against him briefly as he braced their weight.

"Forget about this week, and enjoy the evening." She nodded again, and Kenshin began to wonder if she would ever open up to him.

They exited at the next stop, Kenshin still gripping her hand as he lead her down the streets silently.

Kagome let out a light gasp as they stood before the restaurant. Akabeko's doors were thrown wide open, a crowd gathered in the front laughing with several traditionally dressed waitresses as they served drinks to the waiting people.

"A bit crowded tonight," Kenshin released her hand. "I'll go in to see how long the wait is, unless you'd prefer someplace else?"

"Whatever's best," Kagome tried to smile, but ended up lowering her eyes from him.

"Kagome, if you don't-" Kenshin began, but was cut off with a loud shout from the doors of the restaurant.

"Kenshin! Is that you?"

The newly formed couple turned, greeted by an apron clad young man waving from the podium with a large smile.

Kagome watched as Kenshin waved back, shouting "Hi, Yahiko!" over the crowd. Several people turned to watch the interaction with mild interest.

The boy placed down what appeared to be a stack of menus beneath the podium and forced his way through the crowd, breathing a bit heavily when he reached them near the street.

"I'm so glad you came today, Tae's put on a new menu and she'd love your opinion." Yahiko grinned, his cheeks lightly colored from work. He must have been here all night, Kagome mused, a bit more interested in the relationship he had with Kenshin.

Without waiting for any form of an answer, Yahiko grabbed Kenshin's larger hand, pulling him forcefully through the crowd. Kagome followed blindly, confused as they skipped the growing crowd and entered the building.

"Yahiko, I'm not alone today." Kenshin forced out between Yahiko's ramblings of the menu that neither could really hear over the restaurant buzz.

"Huh," Yahiko turned around when they reached a recently cleared booth near the back, spotting Kagome as she weaved between tables to Kenshin's side.

The boy's brown eyes went wide, recognizing that she was not a usual customer, or a friend of Kenshin's that he'd seen before. A sly grin slit his face, showing white teeth as he jabbed Kenshin with his elbow. "A date! Well damn it you should have told me sooner!"

Kenshin rolled his eyes at the exuberant youth of their host, and motioned for Kagome to step up to the booth before him. "I would have, if you let me speak."

"I figured that Sanosuke was with you." Yahiko served them water, still grinning, as Kenshin sat down at the booth across her, facing the majority of the crowd. "Wait until I tell Tae."

Kagome noted how Kenshin let out a long sigh before asking Yahiko to say hello for him. Yahiko disappeared through a service door near them.

"I guess you're very popular here." Kagome smiled weakly, taking a sip of her chilled water from a glass goblet. Pretty fancy, she thought absentmindedly, taking a quick glance around the room.

The Akabeko wasn't exactly large, but it had a rather homey feel. The colors were bright, the music was low, and the atmosphere was rich with laugher, chatter and the all around happy buzz of its patrons. There was a light scent of spices, and a freshness that could only come from true home-spun cooking.

Date, thank you dinner, whatever this was, Kagome was sure she could at least be civil enough to enjoy such a wonderful place as the Akabeko. Even if it was with her unwanted fiancé, Kenshin.

"I suppose," he said after a moment. "I haven't really thought about it. I've been coming to the Akabeko since I was thirteen so you could say it's my home away from home."

Kagome glanced up at him, catching his violet eyes briefly before glancing away again. "I see, I guess that's nice."

"It helps that the owner's daughter, Tae-san, appreciates my subtle advice on new recipes." Below her eyelashes, she watched Kenshin smile lightly. She didn't know why she though it, or even how she noticed the difference between his responses, but Kagome noticed his smile seemed strained. Was he just as uncomfortable as she was?

Fidgeting with the intricately folded cloth napkin in front of her, Kagome raised her head to fully engage in their conversation.

"What's your favorite color?" The question was so sudden that Kenshin's shock wasn't as well hidden as his other responses had been beneath fake smiles. He took several long sips of his water, wetting his throat against the sudden dryness.

He didn't respond as quick as Kagome would have liked, the silence between them rather awkward for several seconds before she intervened with an answer of her own. "My favorite color is green."

"You don't have to do this." Kenshin finally answered, a bit raspy.

"Remember, you said this wasn't a date." Kagome smiled genuinely, easing their tense atmosphere. "I want to get to know the classmate that borrowed my notes a bit more, that's all."

He released his held breath deep through is nose, calming himself, she realized. It wouldn't be too bad to actually get to know him, at least a little bit.

"I never really thought about it." He answered, watching a woman as she picked her way across the tables towards them, occasionally stopping beside patrons with a warm smile and gentle laugh.

When she finally reached them, she was just glowing, grinning from ear to ear in her joy. "My word, Yahiko was telling the truth." She spoke in a heavy accent that flared a bit on her vowels.

"Why aren't you just a pretty little thing." The woman stretched out her hand greeting Kagome first. "Sekihara Tae, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm the owner's daughter, and longtime friend of Himura-kun."

"Higurashi Kagome," She responded with a smile, but did not elaborate when Tae seemed to be looking for a bit more.

"Higurashi-chan and I attend the same school," Kenshin spoke up, thankfully removing the woman's focus from her. "She lent me her notes, so I thought I'd return the favor-"

"Kenshin, you don't have to be so modest." Tae laughed lightly, handing them a full menu. "Order whatever you like, on the house. A date should be special after all!" She smiled again, and with a quick "Enjoy!" made a hasty exit to leave the supposed dating duo alone.

"Is she always that imposing?" Kagome began unfolding her napkin to make room for the menu under their single light.

"Normally, I'd say no," Kenshin's smile this time was a bit less guarded than the last one. "But when it comes to my love-life, not so much."

"I'm glad that you have someone that cares for you as much as she does." She said as they opened the menu and began to peruse the choices within, mindful of cost regardless of Tae's offer, and eventually fell into friendly conversation. Neither one thought about their imposing wedding day as they enjoyed each other's company for the first time since Monday.

Me too, Tomoe agreed within Kenshin. I hope that you'll care for him even more than I had.


	6. A house of cards.

Chapter 6:

A House of Cards

Kenshin twisted the cloth napkin into a tight cord as silence stretched between him and his dinner mate. He hadn't meant to cause her undue nervousness, but maybe answering a question or two too honestly was bound to get them into some sort of social snags. He watched her chew lightly at the corner of her bottom lip, and when she bit a tad too deep, took a sip of her water to save her from worrying something else.

It wasn't difficult for him to understand her hesitance to start up the conversation anew; it would be difficult for almost anyone to pick up after speaking about his troubled past. Granted, he was brief and rather vague with most of his life as a child, but they both understood how to read between the lines, and maybe in hindsight, they should have abandoned that topic into the much more sociable waters of their classroom experiences.

Glancing to his right, Kenshin briefly scanned the crowded restaurant. He could see from the corner of his eye, Kagome following his line of sight, shifting her weight to scan with him. His hyper vigilance was causing her even more stress, and Kenshin forced himself to relax against the booth's cushioned back, pinching himself on the thigh forcefully to turn his head away from the mass of people, if only for the moment.

Though the act of continuous surveillance calmed him and reinforced his knowledge of their safety- her safety—however Kenshin couldn't very well do so in good conscience with the understanding that it caused Kagome to view her world differently than she had previously accepted it to be. It was enough to enlighten her to the horror of his world at a some-what first hand basis, but to cast even more doubt into her already unsettled mind did not sit well with him.

Without thought, Kenshin's free hand stretched across the table, searching for the warm bread Yahiko had set onto their table while they waited for their meal. Instead of the lightly textured surface of the yeasty bread, Kenshin's fingertips brushed across the smooth skin on the back of Kagome's hand. Within the seconds it took for him to politely retract his hand to allow hers escape from the bread basket, Kenshin took note of her paleness and the unnerving cold that had been her skin.

Reaching again for bread, he considered her slow, shallow breathing, and the water she couldn't help but continue sipping frequently as she lightly tore the bread into small pieces, not even bothering to reach for the butter that also sat in the middle of the table.

Her nervousness had turned into a fear of something he could not understand. Though his lack of social graces probably contributed to most of it, he wondered if it was not just the conversation that unsettled her.

Chewing a bit longer than necessary on his piece of bread, Kenshin wondered how to strike up an acceptable form of conversation.

He doubted starting up again with school would bring about much of a response. Time for that conversation had come and gone, killed effectively with the silence that remained. Childhood experiences were out of the question, as it had been the cause of their tension, and mention of any sort of work or romantic relationships was just taboo. He'd rather the awkward silence and rising tension than deal with that minefield.

They had already gone through the basic twenty-one question routine. Favorite color, number, band, and board game were covered rather lopsidedly, as Kenshin had never truly thought about any of the normal musings and hobbies that were associated with his generation.

The most he had contributed were stabbed guesses at something that may please him, or would strike her interest to continue the conversation. Music was just about the only thing he knew enough of to elaborate on, if only just long enough for Kagome to take a few good breaths before steering their conversation again.

Damning himself for his social ineptitudes and lack of political tact, Kenshin returned to twisting his napkin in silence, wondering if this awkwardness would last through their marriage.

XxxxxxX

The next morning started silently, both of them brushing sleepily against one another as they packed and sorted themselves out for school. Leaving Kenshin's home without breakfast, the two got into the car idling in the driveway.

Behind the wheel was the tall man that Kagome remembered from the other night, still imposing even as his height was folded business like in his seat. As Kenshin greeted the man, taking the cup of coffee offered to him, Kagome was reminded of the man's name.

She leaned against the back seat, surprised when Aoshi turned around, offering her two cups and a rolled up brown paper bag.

"I didn't know if you liked coffee or not," he explained as she took the coffee cup and paper bag. "There's a plain bagel and cream cheese inside."

"Not toasted, unfortunately." Kenshin sighed from the front seat after a deep drink from his own travel mug.

Aoshi ignored him, turning around with the orange juice still in the tray. He dismissed her meek thank-you as well with a sharp nod, turning out of the driveway and towards their school.

Much like her first drive to Kenshin's home, the rear windows blacked out, leaving her to the emptiness of the back seat alone. Deciding to focus on her breakfast, Kagome tried desperately not to look at the blacked out window that divided the driver's cab and her own seat. It reminded her rather horribly of a hearse, and though morbid, the thought amused her enough to finish her breakfast, glad that the emptiness allowed her to compose her thoughts.

At one of the few longer stops the car made, Kagome chanced fixing her coffee to her liking, finding the cream and sugar packages inside the brown bag with her bagel.

Revitalized, if only for the moment, Kagome began the long process of arraigning herself to a somewhat normal state before arriving to school, she did not want to repeat the awkwardness from last night. She knew her friends would question her absence and unprecedented melt-down from earlier in the week, however, thankful that today was Thursday, Kagome looked greatly forward to her time at the range, imagining the targets her arrows were to pierce in the lovely shape of Hiko's head.

Nearly a block from the school, the car pulled over and dumped Kagome and Kenshin off on the sidewalk, idling only long enough for Aoshi and Kenshin to have a quick departing word, and so Aoshi could toss a silent nod her way.

"So this is why I never see you dropped off at school." Kagome yawned and took a sip of her cold coffee. She didn't really mean for Kenshin to hear her, or to start a conversation with him. She had decided last night not to get further involved with him than she already was. It was best for both of them.

"Ah, yes." Kenshin hummed, pulling out his phone from his back pocket. "I already have enough attention from my hair. I'd like to leave out the fact that I'm supposedly rich and chauffeured places in expensive cars."

And a notorious, blood-thirsty, killer, Kagome added silently, remembering his handling of the Yakuza group, and his jumpy nature at the restaurant. Why couldn't I marry a normal boy?

They split off near the school gates where Kenshin was immediately caught up by Miroku and Misao, the young girl with black marker in hand.

"That's what you get for skipping school yesterday." She laughed, drawing the characters for 'baka,' and swirls onto the patch on his cheek.

Tossing her empty cup in the trash, Kagome found her locker and quickly changed her shoes, ignoring the two love notes within. She was tapping her toes into the front of her indoor shoes when Ayumi entered with a pink umbrella in hand.

"Good morning, Kagome." She said, placing her umbrella and shoes in her footlocker.

"Please don't tell me it's going to rain!" Kagome lightly placed her head on the cold metal of her locker door and groaned. "Why me!"

"I'm sorry." Ayumi rubbed her back good-naturedly. "It was on the news this morning. Didn't you see it?"

Kagome's eyebrow twitched and sighed a heavy, drawn out, "No."

"Oh, well I can always walk home with you." She offered, the end of her words lightly lilted as she hobbled to balance as she placed on her right shoe.

"Can't, I have practice today." Kagome snipped a bit as she shouldered her bag.

"Oh." Ayumi hummed and lifted her bag as well. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I'll figure something out." The words were grumbled out quickly as they entered the main hall. Kagome scanned for Kenshin briefly, wondering if he knew about the rain. The hallway was empty of the red haired swordsmen, and Kagome thought it served him right to drown in the rain, if only at the very least to make her feel a bit better. "Maybe I can borrow a school umbrella, or something." She tried to sound calm and unaffected.

"I'm sure it'll be fine." Ayumi smiled and they entered their class with Yuka waving at them from behind the teacher's desk with their other class representative.

"I hope so," Kagome whispered and waved as well, though less cheery. She blamed her increasingly bad mood and ill-luck on Kenshin.

XxxxxxX

The door to the classroom opened halfway through the lecture, stopping the group discussions of the Meiji Restoration. Kagome looked up from her note-taking, chancing a glance at Kenshin before joining the rest of her peers with their eyes at the front of the room. Speaking in hushed whispers with the teacher, a young woman stood proud, ignoring the dress code with jeans and a simple tee. Her heavily distressed canvas duffle bag was also not school approved, carrying more holes and patches than seemed reasonable.

The woman ignored the teachers request to introduce herself, indulging only in a brief 'hey', before taking the only available seat at the front of the class, swinging her bag around loud enough to cut the silence that followed her.

"I'd appreciate it next time Miss Yamanaka, if you entered my class on time and in proper school-issued attire."

"When it's issued to me, I can assure you I'll wear it within school-accepted conduct." She grinned, leaning back against the chair heavily enough that it creaked with distress.

With a shake of his head, the teacher resumed his seat, resigned no doubt to the added delinquent on his roster. "Just make sure you're caught up with the chapter, and stop by after class for additional instruction."

The class resumed their individual discussions, or at least, pretended to continue with the required assignment.

"What do you think about the new girl?" Eri whispered behind her raised notebook, conveniently placed on the side where the new student sat leafing through the textbook pages, uninterested.

"Shut up Eri," Yuka hissed, quickly raising her notebook to block her response from the back of the transfer's head. "She might hear you."

"From the front of the class?" Ayumi chimed in, without bothering to block potential lip-readers as she had her back to their subject of gossip.

"Who cares about that!" Eri leaned forward across their connected desks, disorganizing the handouts they arranged between them previously. "Did you see what she was wearing?"

"Jeans and a tee-shirt." Kagome replied coolly, without looking up from her own text. "Just like anything you'd wear on any other normal day."

"Not that," Ignoring her friends' attempts to stop her, Eri turned a bit more to view the new student unabashed. She turned quickly when the girl looked back. "Her shoes! They're totally outdated."

Kagome's head fell hard onto her desk. "Who the hell cares Eri!"

"I do, no woman in her right mind would wear combat boots after the 90's." Eri pouted. "No need to be so snippy."

Kagome tried desperately to ignore her friends in favor of her work. At least the textbook wouldn't mind her glaring. She didn't want to upset her friends more than she already had, and they were being rather nice not to call attention to her foul mood.

"Ever thought she'd just like durable shoes?" Yuka sighed leaning back softly and picked up the handout that managed to crawl across her desk.

"It's not like she's going to run a marathon, Yuka." Eri huffed and fixed her self-made mess of papers. "High school is the epitome of a young girl's social career. You need to look your best to snag the right guy before he goes off into that big ol' world of College Socialite."

"Eri, you're not going to end up alone. Face it; you'll be married with kids before Kagome here gets her first crush." Yuka grinned, bumping Kagome's shoulder lightly in good-humor.

Gasping at the tease, Eri balled up a torn out page from her notebook and threw it at her friend. "Are you calling me easy?"

"No," Yuka didn't even bother to dodge the missile, Eri was rather well known for her lack of grace when it came to sports. However, she could walk miles around the track in heels if she so chose, and as Kagome remembered fondly, Eri tried to convince their physical education instructor to swap the mile run for just that. "Just goal oriented."

"Meaning simple minded." Ayumi added to the teasing, pausing long enough in her notes to smile up at the two of them.

"I am not simple!" Eri shouted, a bit too loud, and blushed as the class' attention was drawn to her.

Ducking her head back into their circle of tables, Eri's blush grew darker as she pulled the text forward and flipped the pages quickly. "So, back to the construction of the Meiji's central government," she mumbled, stopping on a page with a rather large picture that had absolutely nothing to do with their topic of discussion, and pretended to read.

"Sorry Eri," Ayumi whispered from over her notes, grasping her friends hand lightly before resuming her work. "but you might want to turn to page 73."

The rest of their discussion had nothing to do with the new girl, or Eri's odd priorities. Kagome, however, glanced at the new girl, and then back at Kenshin, who not once looked up after the girl's initial entrance. He huddled with Miroku over their text, neither of them seemed to be reading the material, but looking at something over their textbook.

Kenshin glanced up from whatever it was he was doing towards her, gave her a small, half-hearted smile, before turning down again to Miroku and the page they were looking over, whispering in hushed tones.

What are those two doing? Kagome had difficulty concentrating on their assignment from then on.

XxxxxxX

"This," Miroku whispered to Sango as he passed her in the hall, "is his number, in case you ever need anything. I've also taken the liberty to add my number and Kenshin's on there as well." He shoved a piece of notebook paper into her hand quickly, and before she could say anything turned and made his way back to the redhead waiting patiently by the lockers farther down the hall.

"His number, huh." She mumbled to herself, stuffing the note into her pocket without bothering to read it. Glancing around, Sango inspected her young charge as the girl interacted with her friends.

Normal. That is how she would describe Kagome Higurashi. A normal, frilly, high school girl, with average beauty and exceedingly average intelligence. The girl was plain, except maybe for her eyes, considering they were an unnatural shade of blue for an Asian; and to add to her plainness, the girl was clumsy, careless and so exceedingly ordinary that even her three friends managed to come off as eccentric.

Besides the girls strong case of two left feet during gym, Sango noted the girl's unfortunate episodes of bad luck. Aside from her engagement to the world's most prized killer by chance, Kagome had managed to trip over a rogue dodge ball during lunch, spilling the entire tray onto herself and a passing student, misplace her math notes, and earn a detention for that very afternoon, forcing her to skip club activities.

Yes, normal, no matter strong her ill-luck may have been, fit the girl well. Sango, as she continued to observe the girl, loathed to even speak to her, hoping beyond hope that their interactions would be strictly distant, lest that bad luck fall onto her instead. Her brother didn't need that sort of trouble, and the last thing she wished to do was associate with a girly high school student with nothing but boys and makeup on the brain.

Was her assessment unfair, maybe, but Sango's understanding of the girl's relationships, especially those with her three friends, was subpar, and by association, the girl was subpar and a liability to Sango's skill sets and networking. And she wasn't convinced that Miroku or Kenshin were going to be of any use either. Idiots, the lot of them, really.

'Yes,' Sango though as she watched the girl trip over air when Kenshin passed her with a timid smile, 'strictly no contact sort of business.'

XxxxxxX

"Kagewaki-san, it's me." Sango whispered into the phone, "How's he doing?"

"He's stable, but still unconscious." A deep voice from the other end responded with a soft sigh. "There hasn't been as much as a blimp on the monitor."

"Sorry Sango, I wish I could give you better news." He added after some time, the soft sound of a page turning filled her silent mind. Kagewaki-san was no doubt looking at her brother's charts, searching for any good news to share.

"No, it's alright," her voice was thick but otherwise strong. "He'll pull through this. I know he will."

"Of course, Sango." He wasn't very convincing in his certainty.

"Thank you anyway, Kagewaki-san."

"You know, the best thing you could do for him, is to visit." If he were standing in front of her, no doubt he'd be smiling that lopsided smile of his. "I'm sure he'd like that."

"Maybe when I get some time off work."

"You're always working," He bit out, then added quickly, "It's not good to be under such stress."

"You're the doctor." Sango picked at her nails nervously. "Good evening Kagewaki-san."

"Take it easy, Sango, for Kohaku's sake." He was smiling again, she knew it. "Good evening Sango."

Her phone buzzed just as she hung up. Flipping to her new messages, she read:

Watch over the girl. –Hiko

On assignment. Watch over Higurashi-dono. I'll notify you when you're relieved. –X 

Hi my little cupcake! 3 X is on assignment tonight, so you'll have to follow Kagome-chan home. I wish I could keep you company, but I'm needed at base. Have fun. Kisses. Chuuu~ -Miroku 

"Retards,"Sango muttered lightly, snapping her phone closed. Her eye twitched as she leaned against a school column, waiting for the brat's detention session to end.

She caught the girl with one of her friends, the curly haired one, about an hour later near the gate of the school.

"Hey, Higurashi, wait up." She called out, jogging towards the two girls quickly.

The little thing turned, big blue eyes blinking owlishly at the informal address.

"Sensei baldy told me to ask you for help catching up with the class." Sango grinned, stopping in front of them. He told her no such thing, but honestly the twit didn't need to know that. All she needed was an excuse to spend time with the girl.

"Bald—" The two girls laughed when they connected their Japanese History teacher with the new nickname.

"If you have time tomorrow, I can help you then." Higurashi said politely.

"Can't, today's my only free afternoon." Sango pushed her bag higher onto her shoulder to hide the strong shrug she wanted to make.

"Oh, well, give me a sec to call my folks." A lame excuse really, the girl was probably asking for permission to stay from the Battosai. The Higurashi girl stepped away from them, speaking softly on the phone too far away to properly hear the conversation.

"What area do you need help with?" The curly haired girl smiled at her. "I'm Ayumi, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Charmed." Sango twitched out, but took the offered hand anyway in friendly gesture. "Sango, and I'm finding the Feudal period rather difficult."

"Ah, yes, that could be a bit tricky." These people smiled too much. Annoyed with all the sparkle, rose colored fortune that these girls seemed to be buying into, Sango snorted and rolled her eyes when Ayumi turned to call the other one back to them when she hadn't gotten off the phone yet.

"We'll move this to the library. Kagome'll meet us there." Leading the way, Ayumi twirled and waved her to follow.

"Whatever you say." Sango turned enough to keep the corner of her eye on her charge, watching the girl sulk and murmur into the phone, one small hand covering her lips and the speaker to shield any potential lip-readers.

"You know, the school library is going to close soon, do you mind if we move to a café afterwards to continue?" Kagome asked as she made her way up the stairs to them. "My dad's got company over, and he doesn't want us over there."

"Oh, it's one of those nights is it?" Ayumi hugged her friend. "If you want, you could spend the night at my house."

"No it's okay, I just need to keep out of the way for a little while, you know, and I could use the company." Kagome's smile was so fake Sango could punch through it easily, but she ignored the temptation of popping little miss sunshine's bubble.

"Well, you could always use the time to get me caught up." Sango threw her textbooks onto a table and sat down, readying herself for a boring few hours.

"Right." Kagome said, and the other two joined her, turning to the section of Feudal Japan and began pouring over notes.

XxxxxxX

Kenshin stood next to Hiko as a middle aged man dressed in a white kimono stepped forward, his head shrouded in a black bag.

The man was forced to kneel on the dirt and breathed deeply when the bag was removed and his bonds severed.

The glow from several hung lanterns gleamed along the short blade tossed to the man kneeling before them. He straightened it with just his fingertips, but did not pick it up, and with a white cloth from within his robe, wrapped the heel of the blade loosely.

"You promised me Battosai would have the honor of being my second," the man spoke, gruff and sore from prolonged thirst. Whatever drink he requested with his final meal must not have satisfied the days he'd been without. "Where is this so called legend?"

"First," Hiko sneered. "The information."

"I've already given you everything." The man growled, affronted.

"Then for the sake of your honor as a warrior," Hiko's cruel smile pulled lightly to one side of his face as he leveled a barretta M9 between the kneeling man's eyes. "I'd humor me."

"You gave me your word-."

"For a warrior's death, yes we all know." Hiko snorted. "But as I said, humor me, or you'll depart to the afterlife with a nickel's worth of lead as a parting gift."

The man's lip curled, distorting the light shadow of his unkempt beard. Leaning heavily on his heels, the man let loose a sigh. "Very well."

"Excellent." Hiko replaced the barretta in his coat.

"I didn't know the man, never met him to be honest, but you already know that."

"I do." Kenshin nodded silently as Hiko spoke, hearing the man's confession for a second time.

"I was simply meant to spy from within the organization and provide essential Intel and details to my go-between." He continued simply.

"And the information you provided."

"Was mainly irrelevant. He wasn't interested in money usage, lower personnel gossip, or the otherwise small change that I was allowed access to. He wanted the big catch."

"Battosai." Aoshi spoke up from the shadows between the oil lamps. He was the only other person in the clearing besides Hiko, Kenshin, and their prisoner.

"Yes. But as you know, he's the phantom of all our deadly ghosts, so I couldn't so much as dig up his hair color. Hell, I didn't even know when he was in the building or not."

"Ghosts indeed." Hiko's laugh was dry. "But you do know where that go-between of yours is."

"Used to, the bastard probably high tailed it to Shanghai by know."

"Well, if that is all, then we have nothing more to discuss." Hiko leveled his barretta once more to the man's head.

"Wait! Wait, you trigger happy bastard." The man leaned back further, a hand outstretched as he begged for time. "I can give you his name. It's Byakuya!"

"No last name?" Aoshi took note of the name as he questioned for more information.

"No. And I doubt that's his real name too, sketchy bastard that he is. He's got long black hair, rather girly looking with a fascination for the color purple."

Hiko grunted and nodded to Aoishi as the man pulled out a phone from his pocket.

"That's all of it, I swear!" The man said. Sensing that Hiko was finished with the man, Kenshin began to prepare himself for the task ahead.

"As promised then," Hiko spoke as Kenshin pulled his hair off the nape of his neck into a high warriors' tail, and began to roll up the sleeves of his school shirt. "Battosai will be your Kaishakunin."

With a nod from Hiko, Kenshin pulled free the bandage that covered half his face, revealing the scar, and his identity to the older man.

"A child," He scoffed. "I don't know whether to feel disgraced or disgusted."

Kenshin stepped forward, ignoring the man's words and asked, "Do you have any preferences for when I should strike?"

The man ignored him, blatantly pulling his robes closed tighter as he stared at Hiko. "You don't expect me to believe that this brat can pull off the cut perfectly."

"Take it as you will," Hiko rolled his eyes. "I've allowed you this ceremony, do not assume that I would disgrace the noble ritual by cheating you in some way. Then again," Hiko smiled and waved his barretta around with a graceful swirl of his hand. "I could always off you myself."

"Boy, if you do this wrong, I will become your personal demon." The man spat at him, turned forward and grabbed the short sword, one hand on the hilt and the other on the cloth wrapped heel, preventing the blade from slipping. Stabbing himself quickly, the man drew the blade through his abdomen from left to right, the motion completed as an afterthought.

As the short sword was lifted, Kenshin shifted his stance and released his blade, cleanly slicing through the exposed neck of the man, making sure to leave just enough flesh for the head to fall forward, connected, as if embracing his departing soul.

Whether the man had any qualms with his quick decapitation or not was to be seen. They waited briefly, either for the man's departed spirit to haunt Kenshin, or for the memory of the ritual that was seppuku, Kenshin didn't care. He bowed his head to the dead prisoner in respect.

Hiko nodded to Kenshin, and the two returned back to the car as the lights behind them were doused by Aoshi. "Let's hope that his information proves useful." He said as Kenshin opened the door for him.

"What would you have me do?" Kenshin asked as he sat beside him.

"For now, nothing. This is Aoishi's area of expertise." Hiko's frown was partially covered by his sake cup. "Settle in your new wife, I'll deal with this information. If anything comes up, you'll be the first to know."

Kenshin nodded his acceptance and pulled out his phone, sending Sango a text that he, Battosai, was on his way home, and that Himura-kun was going to pick up Kagome from where they were holed up studying, relieving her for the night.

**Author's Note:**

> Kenshin's Speech:
> 
>  
> 
> This one…. Refers to "Sessha/Asshi". It's Kenshin's humble way of speaking. Very Polite.
> 
> I (not Italicized)…. Refers to "Watashi/Watakushi". It's the formal form of 'I' in Japanese.
> 
> I (Italicized)…. Refers to "Ore". It's the manly and strong form of 'I' in Japanese.
> 
> You (Temee, Temae)….Rude and confrontational way to say "you". Used when angry.
> 
> You (Kisama)….Extremely hostile and rude way to say "you".
> 
> If Kenshin's speech becomes too confusing to remember what the italicized "I" or "You" means, please let me know and I'll start writing in "Ore", "Watashi", or "Watakushi" for "I", and "Temee" and "Kisama" for "You" next to it in parenthesis or something to that nature. This legend will always be posted to every chapter just incase. 
> 
> Suffix/Honorifics:
> 
> Name-chan: A diminutive or 'cute' suffix mainly referring to young girls or children.
> 
> Name-dono: Spelled 'tono' but pronounced 'dono' when linked to a name, so for the sake of keeping things relatively simple, I'm going to stick to the 'dono' spelling. Roughly translates to "Lord" or "Master". It's between 'san' and 'sama' in level of respect.
> 
> Name-kōhai: Similar to 'senpai' only referring to someone of a lower rank, grade, or age.
> 
> Name-kun: A suffix used mainly to address young men, boys and teenage boys, or used to address those of a junior status. Used by females that is attached to, or, has known the male for a long time. Females can also be addressed as 'kun' though it is not often used.
> 
> Name-sama: A more respectable version of 'san'. Refers to someone of higher rank than the speaker or to address someone the person admires.
> 
> Name-san: Roughly equivalent to "Mr.", "Miss", "Mrs.", or "Ms."
> 
> Name-senpai, Senpai: Used when addressing someone older than you, or of a higher rank or grade. Used normally in the school or work setting. It can be used without a name attached.
> 
> Name-sensei, Sensei: Used to address a teacher, doctor, politician…etc…Can be used without a name attached.
> 
> Name-ue: Normally seen with 'chichi-ue' and 'haha-ue' meaning father and mother. Means 'above', and means a high level of respect.
> 
> I hope that wasn't too confusing. You can find the links to more information on the Japanese language and honorifics on my bio page. This information was referenced from Wikipedia. The source is cited on my bio page.


End file.
